Vacation for Overachievers

I finally made the plunge. I finally made what has always been a fantasy, a far off dream that I never had any concrete plans to realize, a soon-to-be reality.

For months I have been talking about doing a language emersion program – where you go to a school in your country of choice and completely and intensely immerse yourself in the language and cultures. I had envisioned doing a program for two months or so, after I quit my job (because I plan to do that someday – see, this is where the far-off-fantasy part comes in) and before I either left Ithaca or went back to school or started a new job (none of which I have any plans to do in the near future. Are you getting the theme here?). But then I had the idea that maybe I could do a language emersion program for two weeks, kind of like a vacation (where “I had the idea” = everyone kept suggesting (some more conspicuously and some aggressively to the point of offering to book one for me) that I take a vacation that doesn’t somehow involve seeing my family (because god knows that’s not vacation by even the most liberal definition of the word), and finally I got the hint and started brainstorming what to do. All credit goes to Maren for suggesting (in her Mid-Western way) that I do language emersion for two weeks and get over the (very comfortable and far off) fantasy of going for two months. This paragraph is the perfect example of how to excessively use parentheses. (My apologies)).

So, here I am. One week of school booked at La Hermandad Educativa in Guatemala, and one round-trip plane ticket purchased. It turns out they only had room for me in the school for one week, so I don’t have any plans yet for what to do for the five days after I finish the school part. Did you hear me? I don’t have any plans yet. This is big, people. I have never – never – taken a trip anywhere – ANYWHERE – without a very specific, carefully planned agenda that was either planned by me or planned for me by someone else. I always travel through programs, where things are set up for you, or through school, or meet up with people I know, or something. And, though I am doing a program for the first part of my trip (baby steps), the second part is as wide open as my legs on a Friday night (read: VERY WIDE OPEN).

AND, though I’m going broke in order to take this trip, I can justify the expense because it’s educational and will hopefully really improve my Spanish. And, it’s hard for overachievers to take a regular old vacation, so this is a good compromise between relaxation and specific purpose.

I’m sure I’ll get more terrified as it gets closer, but right now I am ¾ ecstatic and just ¼ freaked out beyond belief. Not bad for the chronically uptight.