Leaving Stanford was hard, especially since packing up my belongings and preparing to head out made me realize (as if I hadn't realized before) what a special place the Farm has been for me over the last five years. I've met terrific friends, learned from brilliant professors (and friends and dormmates and advisors and coaches and mentors and other people), and had many tremendous experiences. I won't try to put it all in words here, but suffice it to say I found myself getting very nostalgic during the past month. I'm glad the summer will give me time to process everything as I also shift my focus to the adventure ahead. As difficult as Stanford was to leave, over the past year I also itched to go new places and experience new things, even while I tried to take advantage of the present moment. Living deliberately with purpose, it seems, can be a balance between novelty and familiarity.
Oxford looms ahead, and thank goodness it possesses its own mix of the novel and the familiar. It's not as familiar as Stanford's sandstone arches, but I do smile whenever I think of returning to those "dreaming spires" once again. And its share of newness seems like that of sheer opportunity. I'm choosing to think of the people I've not yet met and the places I've not yet seen, and to embrace the thrill of those things. The next two years will push my limits in an entirely new way, and I know it. Right now I'm catching my breath, reading a couple of good books, reminding myself to enjoy the sun in the Southwest before it disappears into London fog, and preparing myself for the roads ahead.
Those roads will continue with my visa application, which I will prepare and submit once I receive some official paperwork from St. John's in the next few weeks. Here we go!
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