New Year, New Post (Finally!)

"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but by how we react to what happens; not by what life brings us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes, creating extraordinary results."

I read this quote on one of those motivational pictures you find on countless office, classroom, and bedroom walls, written beneath people climbing Mount Everest or bears catching salmon... You know the ones.

Though this one in particular actually speaks to me on a personal level. I really do agree with this line of thinking. Particularly in this chaotic last year of college and even just with the general state of craziness the world seems to be in these days I feel like it's more important than ever to just roll with the punches and stay positive.

This might be trickier for me than it would seem though. It's a little stressful thinking that I'm this close to the end of college, but actually there is still a lot left to do. I won't be walking with my fellow class of '09 in May as I won't be graduating until December. Over these next 10 months I'll need to get through all of my remaining upper division credits and I'll have the joy of my 2nd round with Organic Chemistry this June.

Even after I sputter across the finish line, I'm still not completely sure what I'm even going to do with my degree. I wish I could just look at a catalog of possible lives after college and then there would be a registration date in the Fall and you would start your chosen life after college the following January. Alas, it is not that simple. Paradoxically, the possibilities seem both limited and endless. Grad school? Forensics? Research? What kind of research? Overseas? East Coast? West Coast?

I also worry that my lack of internship experience will make things difficult. I'm having trouble finding one this summer because of fact that I won't be done with summer school until July 2nd and most internships want you to start the first week of June. I try to stay positive and to convince myself that it'll all work out somehow, just in a way that's not very clear to me right now.

I still miss and think about my experiences on Semester at Sea every day, particularly now that we are exactly one year removed from our adventure. I've relived the 2008 version of each day since January 21st in my head and long to be back in those moments when, despite the enormity of what we were doing, things seemed so much simpler.

But I've also started looking forward to new plans, and new experiences. I'm hoping to go to Europe this May for a couple of weeks and satiate my thirst for travel, at least for another few months. I never realized just how much I love traveling until this past year. I hope that I'll still have the opportunity to do so often regardless of my professional ambitions and very excited at the prospect of going more places I've never been.

Above all I know that there are big changes on the horizon and that they'll be here very quickly. Lately though I feel as if I've been living in a strange daze. It almost feels as if I'm waking up to start a new day every couple of hours and the weeks soar by. I'm keeping up with everything for the most part, but it all seems to be happening so fast and people tell me it only gets faster.

So I suppose that will be my New Year's resolution this year... To stay positive and see what extraordinary results I can acheive!