Leaving On a Jet Plane

Today at 10:30, the doorbell rang. My friendly neighborhood postal carrier needed my signature, in order to give me back a package I recognized at once as my visa and passport for Russia. I was so happy I could have kissed her, but thought the better of it, signed for my package, and went back to bed (ah, the wonders of temporary unemployment).

Today, I took my GRE, in order to be ready to put in graduate school applications over the coming months. I scored as well as I need to--a 700 verbal and 670 quantitative, which should be sufficient for any kind of program I would care to apply to.

My father picked me up from the GRE. I had intended to surprise him by showing him my passport with the visa attached, but he had already seen the Express Mail package I had left on the dining room table. Nonetheless, he too me out for a celebratory dinner and suggested we start looking for a flight on our return home.

I had expected booking a flight to be a difficult and time-consuming process, but we were able to find a reasonable flight from Kansas City to Moscow for a total of $650, including the cost of having the tickets FedExed to me via two-day delivery. So as of Wednesday, I should have my tickets in hand.

I am reasonably philosophical about the time I have spent Stateside. I've accomplished a lot: my application to American Jewish University is completed, save for the financial aid forms. I took me GRE today. I am looking into a variety of other graduate programs. And I managed to find this job in Russia a mere three weeks after returning home--certainly a far better experience than I have had with other job hunts. For the first time in a long time, I feel a sense of direction and purpose in my life that I know will ultimately bear fruit.

Next Monday evening, I leave on a jet plane, off to a new adventure. I am ready to go, and I will not hem and haw over what happens if I fail. One way or another, a bright future will open up for me in graduate school next fall. But in the meantime, I know I'll see and experience things I could never have seen and experienced any other way. And for this, I am eternally grateful.