Completion

I came back to the United States over 21 months ago. (I don't keep track of the time anymore, I just now counted.) I came back to get a teaching certificate, and the thought of that process terrified me. I remember thinking that I didn't want to commit to the master's program because two years was just FOREVER, and I didn't think I could handle staying in the United States that long, I didn't want to put my desire to be in Bolivia on hold for that long, I didn't want to conform to the negative aspects of my own culture again.

So I started classes at the university that had the program I wanted and would allow me to start classes the soonest. I jammed each semester with as much as I thought I could handle so I could finish. Most semesters I was in over my head, so I am fairly burned out on this whole thing now. It was a tough transition to get back into school, but now I am totally used to the need to read textbooks, study, write papers, go to class, and pay a whole lot of tuition.

Today I turned in my last project and went to my last class of my normal program. I am not done, as I still have a seminar and student teaching to do, but as far as what I have been doing for a year and a half, I am done with school as I have known it to be. Now I venture into the unknown, into doing what I have been trained to do (in theory).

I am excited about teaching, but I am also saddened by the thought that I won't see some of my classmates again. I have enjoyed getting to know many of them. They have made it a pleasure to go to class -- usually :-)

Tonight is bittersweet, but there it is. It is complete... sort of.