Goals

They, and to be honest I have no clue as to who “they” truly are, say that in order to get the most out of a trip you should set goals. Since I’m sitting on a plane just about an hour into my flight I figure that this is as good a time as any to set some goals. Here they are:

• Grow academically - I’m studying at what is perhaps the most prestigious university in the world. I think I should really focus on growing as an academic and take advantage of learning from a different professor - don’t get me wrong, I love me some Dr. Juilee Decker but there comes a point where another view point is good. I’ll also have access to nearly any resource I could ever want, so I should probably take advantage of that.

• Grow personally - I’ve done the whole “living on my own in a forgein country” thing once before but this time it’s a bit different. My last trip taught me quite a bit about myself and how I behave all on my own, but for this trip I’d like to truly take a swing at “real life.” In other words, I’ll be out of school in about a year and I’ll have to live on a budget and all that stuff. This seems like a great opportunity to live on a budget - to decide what I really want to do and to spend my money wisely. Now I’m not going to be a shut-in and never spend money but I am going to spend wisely.

• Learn about a new culture - I have a slight obsession with other cultures. With any hispanic/latin culture I have what some might call an infatuation but I think I’ll fancy the British culture as well. They tend to be a tad bit more pessimistic, sarcastic and cynical - all qualities I possess and exude daily. I’m also looking forward to not being “the raging liberal” and to be surrounded by people that actually care about human rights and social welfare. Side note - I’m extremely glad I get to go to Oxford after Obama’s win, instead of attempting to explain poor decisions made by my government I can actually be proud of its actions.

• Have fun - This semester has been extremely stressful. It’s been weird as I’ve only been taking two classes due to how Oxford works. As a result, I’ve been in much more of a work mood rather than an academic mood which has made class somewhat difficult. Add saving up for this trip and other stressors in my life and you have one extremely stressed out college kid. So it’s my goal to wrap up everything stateside before term starts (which is 4/26) so that I can focus on my tutorial and having some fun. Having fun also includes slowing down a bit. I have that "super fast American walk" and it was extremely obvious in Heathrow. Which, sidenote, Heathrow is huge and requires you to walk a ton. I quite literally walked about 2 miles to get everything done I needed to get done.