Today I am sitting here writing this blog. Tomorrow I will be on the East Coast. I can hardly believe that I'm here; I managed to get into the Ivy League connection, and now I'm going to Penn! Naturally, I'm nervous. I'm getting out of my comfort zone by going to a new place and meeting new people. At the same time, I'm excited. I'm sure that, beginning tomorrow, I will learn an enormous amount, about both physics and a different place.
I've packed. I've slept. I'm ready. I've even put the latest code for projects I'm working on onto my laptop. I am eager to stop sitting around and leave. The time before the trip must belong to Zeno: each minute feels twice as long as the previous one. I will be doing something new and fascinating. I will meet new people and learn new things. I want to be in a new situation to experience the world. St. Augustine once said "The world is a book, and those who don't travel only read one page." Tomorrow I will be turning the page.
At the same time, I want to cling to my familiar surroundings. I don't want to be away from my family, my friends, or my cat. I don't want to wake up extremely early so that I can be behind on sleep in an alien place. I'm nervous; I will be traveling nearly 3,000 miles away. To put that in perspective, the earth at the equator is under 25,000 miles. Tomorrow I will see if my nervousness is warranted.
More than either excitement or anxiousness, I'm curious. I want to know the answers to my questions. I want to know if I will adapt to a new place or if I will feel uncomfortable. Will I meet people I like? Will I stack up well against the other people taking Experimental Physics? Has WCCUSD prepared me well? The answer to all these questions, I hope, is yes. The only way to answer my questions is to go on the trip. I want to fulfill my curiosity about physics and new places, though I'm sure I'll only become more curious as I learn more. Tomorrow I will begin to answer questions. Tomorrow.
I've packed. I've slept. I'm ready. I've even put the latest code for projects I'm working on onto my laptop. I am eager to stop sitting around and leave. The time before the trip must belong to Zeno: each minute feels twice as long as the previous one. I will be doing something new and fascinating. I will meet new people and learn new things. I want to be in a new situation to experience the world. St. Augustine once said "The world is a book, and those who don't travel only read one page." Tomorrow I will be turning the page.
At the same time, I want to cling to my familiar surroundings. I don't want to be away from my family, my friends, or my cat. I don't want to wake up extremely early so that I can be behind on sleep in an alien place. I'm nervous; I will be traveling nearly 3,000 miles away. To put that in perspective, the earth at the equator is under 25,000 miles. Tomorrow I will see if my nervousness is warranted.
More than either excitement or anxiousness, I'm curious. I want to know the answers to my questions. I want to know if I will adapt to a new place or if I will feel uncomfortable. Will I meet people I like? Will I stack up well against the other people taking Experimental Physics? Has WCCUSD prepared me well? The answer to all these questions, I hope, is yes. The only way to answer my questions is to go on the trip. I want to fulfill my curiosity about physics and new places, though I'm sure I'll only become more curious as I learn more. Tomorrow I will begin to answer questions. Tomorrow.
I don’t know who this ZENO character is but if it has anything to do with the ILC, then we own it. ZENO will have to get his own time.
ReplyDeleteAnd I’m not sure I like this St, Augustine guy. Quite obviously he never had to cram his big body into one of those teensy weensy airline seats. For scrawny young guys like you that may not be a problem but for big tubs of lard like me it’s no fun at all.