Transition

It feels a bit like I've been in motion constantly for the past four months: leaving my job, working abroad, traveling. Since my return to the States I've kept this inertia and moved lots of stuff to New Haven. I'm about to jump into the next big thing and for the first time in a very long time I have a moment to catch my breath.

I also have a quick moment to look back at my experience in Sierra Leone. It's still exciting to think about what I learned and accomplished there. I feel the work was beneficial to all parties involved, including Kiva, the local microfinance where I worked, the borrowers I met, and myself. And on a totally selfish note, I'm really glad I had the chance to be a part of it.

Next I get to transition to student life. I am continuing on my trajectory from working professional to volunteer to traveler to student. I'm trading the mostly brick buildings of Boston's Back Bay and Cambridge's Harvard Yard for the Gothic stone buildings of New Haven.

It remains to be seen how my experiences abroad (and for that matter, all my experiences during the years since graduating from college) will contribute to my time in graduate school. But somehow they'll all be part of the picture whether I realize it or not.

I'm ready and excited to be a student again.