I've recently decided that I'm in love with the fall. On Tuesday afternoon, fall unexpectedly fell in my lap. It was cool outside, there was a gloriously brisk breeze, and everything just smelled like fall. On top of that, fall carries with it the most exciting time of the year: the beginning of a new school year! I love starting school! I love the promise of new beginnings and new classes. I love that the stores full of rows upon rows of school supplies in every shape and color, and I love the fact that there are frantic parents everywhere trying to grab that oh-so-important box of pencils or Hello Kitty folders. (Shopping for school supplies is one of my guilty pleasures). But most of all, I've noticed, I just love school. Summer is long and hot and boring, for the most part, and school means seeing friends and having a full and busy schedule. School brings with it a chance to learn and study and challenge yourself!
When I graduated in December, it took me a few weeks to grieve the end of my school career. For an academic and a life-long student like me, graduating was the end of my life as I knew it. But when I found out in March that I was going to become the Spanish Intern at Drake University this fall, I didn't expect to be so thrilled when I got here. There is something about a college campus that just captures me. The throngs of young people heading to class and dorms and social events, the passion for academia that you can just feel in the air, the big brick buildings and lush green lawns covered in statues and fountains and a history of intellectualism... these are the things that capture me and draw me back once again to this place where I feel at home.
A few weeks ago, before I realized my excitement for the fall or what was to come, Aaron and I saw a sign for school supplies (one of the first). Without thinking I immediately sang out "I can't wait for school to start! We need to go shopping for supplies!" Every year as long as I can remember, shopping for school supplies has been a given, but Aaron, in his usual realistic manner, laughed it off and answered "Andrea, what would you need supplies for? You graduated, you're not going back to school." This caught me off guard. No school supplies? How could it be? And how on earth could I survive this time of year without going shopping for school supplies? Then I remembered!
"Wrong!" I triumphantly answered him, "I need supplies for Drake this fall!" We both laughed and resumed our shopping trip, minus the school supplies (they weren't on our list - and besides, it's best to hold out until everyone else has bought theirs and then buy them on clearance, fyi). This conversation made me think, though, and it made me realize that the truth is that I will never be done shopping for school supplies. More than anything I hope the day never comes when fall doesn't mean time to go back to school. I love school; I always have and I think I always will.
All this to say, one week into my "job" at Drake, and I'm loving it. I thought I wouldn't like teaching, but standing up and leading a discussion for a classroom full of eager students is one of the most exhilarating (albeit tiring) things I've ever done. This environment is where I'm most comfortable and where I find my energy and my joy.
To be fair, you must know that a huge part of why I love my job is the fact that I get to take Arabic and German while I'm here. I'm so spoiled! Aaron pointed out this morning that very few people get the chance to do what I'm doing now. At the ripe age of 20, I've been given the responsibilities of a full-on professor, the chance to study, to research, and to lead group discussion in a truly academic way, while still learning and watching those who are instructing me in these tasks. I get to sit in on faculty meetings and spend time with some brilliant minds in the field of Second Language Acquisition. And on top of all that, I have the privilege of learning not one, but two, languages for free!
So, Fall, do your worst! You are beautiful and I welcome you with open arms. I am so grateful today to be in this place and to be so blessed by my Maker with a sharp mind, an amazing understanding of languages and a love for the intellectual, the academic. I am so content right now to be Profesora Andrea Woodard!
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