Yes, it has been almost two months since I last made a blog post. I don’t know what took so long, but I’ve either been really busy or haven’t had enough to blog about. The former is probably the more accurate assessment.
But today it’s Thanksgiving. And for me, this Thanksgiving is far more bittersweet than in past years, because I’m still here at AU, not with my family. Today is day 2 of a five-day weekend where 80% of the campus has gone home and nothing on campus is open except for the dorms (and that includes any and all places to eat). I know that I’m not the only one that doesn’t get to go home during Thanksgiving, but the first time can be especially difficult to get through, especially when practically the entire campus is gone.
And yet, after over 100 days here at AU (with only 19 to go, as anyone who follows me on Twitter will already recognize), I’ve sincerely come to better appreciate a number of blessings in my life that I had previously taken for granted. And at some point a few days ago, I realized that rather than spend Thanksgiving break feeling lonely, I should instead take the time to do something that I have routinely ignored during Thanksgiving: count my blessings. And so, here are the top things that I am thankful for during this Thanksgiving:
I’m thankful to be here at American University. It’s really easy to name aspects of AU that I don’t like, or to point out times when I was wishing that I was back home. But even through the heartache and homesickness, I am really fortunate to be able to study at this university, and I (and my family, I’m sure) am especially grateful to AU for the significant scholarship that I received to help us better afford to come here. (Although this wouldn’t have been true two years ago, after the scholarship, we’re actually paying less for me to come here than we would for the University of California system. And we all know about the chaos that the UCs are in right now…)
I’m thankful for my opportunities to participate in AUSG and ATV. After two months as Parliamentarian of the Student Government, I have fit into the role very well and have established an excellent working relationship with many of the other individuals in SG. Although SG is a place where you encounter some rather interesting personalities, fulfilling my position there has been an honor and a privilege that has really helped me keep my head up.
And to an even larger extent comes something that I haven’t blogged about yet: My significant involvement at ATV, AU’s student-run television station. I actually spent most of October and the early part of November redesigning their website for them, and once that was completed about two weeks ago, I have since been able to work with the other guys at ATV to bring even more ideas to fruition. (I’m actually spending most of my five-day weekend getting work done there and holding up their fort.) But I can’t express enough how much I’ve enjoyed getting to work with and learn from these other guys at ATV. My involvement there has given me projects to work on to keep myself occupied, but in a larger sense, has introduced me to a number of new friends.
I’m thankful for my friends, teachers, and advisers from high school. There have been a number of times here where I have heard other students talking about how much they hated their high school for whatever reason. I come from a very different place. My four years at Aragon High School opened up a lot of opportunities for me, and I don’t think I would be where I am today if it wasn’t for the support and encouragement that I received from all of the people–adults and students alike–at Aragon. I sincerely miss my high school days and look forward to having an opportunity to visit there during winter break. Yet I cannot help but be thankful for my experiences at high school. And I hope that as I continue to adjust to life at AU, my four years here will also become as special as my high school years were.
I’m thankful for Southwest Airlines. Okay, that did sound weird, but I feel that I’ve just gotta stick this in here. In order to take advantage of hopefully cheaper fares, we actually booked my winter break flights back in August, with me departing on December 15 and returning on January 5. Why return so early? Well, because at the time I thought that being here for “Spring Welcome Week” would be important. Turns out it wasn’t, and by coming back on 1/5, I would miss my brother’s birthday and my only chance to visit my high school during the break. Well, it turns out that Southwest actually doesn’t charge you anything to change flights (if you do it early enough, I presume), so I was able to change over to the same flight on Friday 1/8. But it actually gets even better, because apparently the Friday flight was cheaper than the Tuesday flight, so I now have a $30 credit on Southwest for whenever my next flight is! And that was a change made more than two months after the original reservation. I just can’t tell you how pleased I am about that flight change…
I’m thankful for my friends from home. This is meant to be all-encompassing, covering my relatives, friends from my church at home, and the many people whom I’ve gotten to work with through organizations like PTA and Peace Action over the past 4-5 years. All of these people have touched my life in some way–some of them in ways that I hadn’t fully appreciated until I left them behind for AU. Fortunately through letters, cards, and e-mail, I thankfully haven’t entirely lost touch with many of these people, but I am still thankful for them and how they have each had a positive impact on my life in a small way.
Finally, I’m thankful for my family. In a world where such a large proportion of families end up breaking apart, or in a world where the stereotypical teenager alienates themselves from their parents, I remain so blessed and so thankful for my mom, my dad, and my brother. I have never become detached from them, and they have always been there for me and supporting me in my multiple endeavors. We have been separated by 4,000 miles since August, and I cannot wait to be back home with them in three weeks.
Regardless of where we physically are today, here’s to a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving.
