The Ghost of Future Perfect

You might have noticed my nifty new blog feature: A VIRTUAL COUNTDOWN. Which leads me to my next question: what can't the internet do? (And where is my flying car?)

I am just a few hundred words away from waving a lusty farewell to Giorgione and my first semester of graduate school. The end is in sight, it seems, and all that stands between me and a tasty masters degree are three more months of unbelievably rigorous coursework and a lengthy dissertation. Not bad; not bad at all.

When I first started talking about coming to Scotland I remember telling a lot of people that I would stay for graduate school and then apply for citizenship. ("It only takes five years!") Well, despite having enthusiastically adhered to the first leg of my plan, I've decided with a surprising level of certainty that I am moving back Stateside as soon as the coursework portion of my program is finished.

This chapter of my life has been at once intoxicating, delicious, harrowing and impossibly difficult; I have made some tremendous friendships and tested myself in ways I never thought possible. I don't want to wax nostalgic just yet, but it is with a measure of sadness that I have reached the decision to turn my back on a life abroad. But what is it that TS Eliot says? Yes, that's right:

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. "

YES to my decision, YES to the next step, and YES to those who are welcoming me back with arms outstretched.