Let's Muse About: Time

Strasbourg Airport:
August 26, 2009

Also known as:
My first real day as an exchange student in France.

~*~*~*~

Time is such an interesting thing.  It happens all the time around us and sometimes, it goes by really fast or really slow.  For example, when we listen to music, do you count the seconds it takes until the first verse starts?  Or maybe do you go past a certain mark until you skip the rest of that song?  Or maybe you're listening to a song that you really like, but you automatically skip ahead to your favorite part?  Or... well, you just listen to the whole thing because those 3 minutes and 43 seconds are that awesome.  Either way, it's all about time.  And this first "musing" blog is going to be as such.

So, first things first.  I have an important milestone coming up.  Yes, I'm posting this early, but did you even look at the picture above?  You might notice that there are 4 older guys, a girl, and, well, luggage.  That's because this was me arriving in Strasbourg's airport (Alsace region in France near Germany) five years ago.  A long time ago to be sure considering now it's July 1, 2014 and here I am in my living room.  Five years ago, I would've just gotten back from San Francisco with my visa, my passport, and a whole lot of nerves.  It was still surreal back then that I was about to embark on a journey that would take me to France for the third time, but instead of vacation, I would be going to there to live and study.  Yep, I was an exchange student when I was 16 and would then have a really long and stressful 11 months in France and having my birthday in the beginning of the third part of my stay.  It's crazy to think I'm here 5 years later and I just got done with work and I'm currently waiting for it to cool outside before I head out on my daily run that consists of about 2.2 miles.  Okay, I'm getting off subject.  But hey, I'm waiting... and this post is about time.

Well, aside from the anniversary of me leaving France for a year this August, it's weird to think of what has happened after five years has passed.  Let's make a list.

1. I came home from France and graduated from high school.  Woohoo class of 2011.
2. I applied and was accepted to go to Westminster College in Salt Lake.  
3. Three years after starting college with an English major in the Creative Writing emphasis, I am now a graduate with said B.A.  (Bachelor of Arts, in case someone is unfamiliar with the American college/university system)
4. I am now waiting for certain things to come about so I know what I'll be doing next year

So basically in five years, I have gone abroad for a year.  Lived in France for that year.  And now have two diplomas: a high school one and a college/university diploma.

A lot of other things have also changed during the course of five years and not to mention just life as it happens.  But it's weird to think about dates when certain things happened.  Another example to go back to exchange is... well.. what was going on today four years ago.

Four years ago to the day (it would technically be July 2nd over there with the 8 hour time difference), I was actually dreading everything.  I had only 9 days left and I had one friend of mine, Katerina, spend time with me in the town I was in, Gérardmer from the previous week.  But today four years ago was the last time I saw my French friend Coralie.

Coralie is the best friend from my exchange.  I didn't have many friends, but it's a comfort to know that even four years later we still email and use snail-mail to talk to each other.  Even if my French is slipping slowly.  Anyways, on this day, it would be the last time I would get to see her face-to-face.  We were walking down from my school campus (after BAC testing, YUCK) and we were about to part ways.  I can't remember what I told her, but it wasn't too different from the "I am really going to miss you" line.  We burst into tears and hugged each other, did the bisous, one last time.  Now, one has to understand that Coralie was somebody that was like me on exchange:  there, but also kind of invisible.  I was obviously known as "The American" at school and so many people wanted to know me.  But some people weren't very nice, so I had maybe 4-5 really good friends.  Coralie was one of them.  It was random that we just started talking one day, quiet and shy, and from then on (maybe January or February) we would always talk between classes and I even had somebody I could sit next to during class.  But when that day came to say goodbye, I didn't want to say anything because I was so choked up.  Makes it even worse when you can't even comprehend what's going on in the English side of my brain.  Like I said earlier in this paragraph, we have kept in contact over the past few hours and I am incredibly thankful for that.

All in all, like this post is centered on, time in general is just a really bizarre thing.  Whether it's minutes, seconds, or years.  But hey, looking back, who knew I could accomplish this much in my life in five years?