Right now I'm in the Hong Kong airport. I've got a long flight to Chicago and then Dayton, but I can see the land of milk and honey in the horizon.
It's been seven months since I have actually seen home, and that's something that I never thought I would do. I remember sitting in the kitchen after dinner with my mother when I was 10 or 11 years old and being totally petrified of going abroad. I don't know why I had that intuitive inner anxiety, but I still deal with remnants of it today. I think that some people are built for leaving home and never coming back, but my experience has shown that that isn't for me. Although, I do enjoy leaving the friendly confines of the lower 48 every once in a while.
I arrived in Singapore around 10 PM yesterday and walked to the check-in counter for United Airlines. It was closed and wouldn't open 'til 4 AM. I was pissed. Initially, my strategy was to check my bags, pass through security, and pay for a room in the transit hotel in the airport to catch some shuteye. Plans changed. Fortunately, I let my compulsive behavior get the best of me and I checked into the Crowne Plaza hotel in Changi Airport. If you want to feel like a boss someday, that's what you need to do. I had to drop a few dimes to get in, but I'll just expense it to my travel allowance. Also, the temporarily awesome experience was nullified after boarding a United Airlines aircraft. America has the antithesis of the Midas touch when it comes to air transit.
This trip home will be my first vacation in seven months and a welcome opportunity to decompress after a particularly turbulent year. With my tenure abroad expected to come to a close at the end of this estival season, being home will be a welcome opportunity to chart my course for the next several years to come (as well as a great chance to reunite with my estranged family, friends, and girlfriend).
I can't say that my time in Indonesia has been the most inspiring, wholesome, or transcendental period of my life. Truthfully, I feel like I lost a lot of myself over here and when I began to see the symptoms, I began to plan my out. So much of what I had become in college simply vanished after my first few months here. I was no longer creative and I no longer had a vision for what I wanted to become and what I wanted to accomplish. A man without a vision is a lost man. I was lost. Some things are starting to get right with my impending return.
I was very disappointed with what happened while I was here and after taking it all in, my heart pointed to go. Life is very short and efficiency with your days is crucial. You have to protect your time on earth and know that you are empowered and alive at all times. If not, then kick the can on down the road.
Alas, we gaily greet the dawn of a new day. See you in a few hours Ohio. Au revoir.
-Aaron
It's been seven months since I have actually seen home, and that's something that I never thought I would do. I remember sitting in the kitchen after dinner with my mother when I was 10 or 11 years old and being totally petrified of going abroad. I don't know why I had that intuitive inner anxiety, but I still deal with remnants of it today. I think that some people are built for leaving home and never coming back, but my experience has shown that that isn't for me. Although, I do enjoy leaving the friendly confines of the lower 48 every once in a while.
I arrived in Singapore around 10 PM yesterday and walked to the check-in counter for United Airlines. It was closed and wouldn't open 'til 4 AM. I was pissed. Initially, my strategy was to check my bags, pass through security, and pay for a room in the transit hotel in the airport to catch some shuteye. Plans changed. Fortunately, I let my compulsive behavior get the best of me and I checked into the Crowne Plaza hotel in Changi Airport. If you want to feel like a boss someday, that's what you need to do. I had to drop a few dimes to get in, but I'll just expense it to my travel allowance. Also, the temporarily awesome experience was nullified after boarding a United Airlines aircraft. America has the antithesis of the Midas touch when it comes to air transit.
This trip home will be my first vacation in seven months and a welcome opportunity to decompress after a particularly turbulent year. With my tenure abroad expected to come to a close at the end of this estival season, being home will be a welcome opportunity to chart my course for the next several years to come (as well as a great chance to reunite with my estranged family, friends, and girlfriend).
I can't say that my time in Indonesia has been the most inspiring, wholesome, or transcendental period of my life. Truthfully, I feel like I lost a lot of myself over here and when I began to see the symptoms, I began to plan my out. So much of what I had become in college simply vanished after my first few months here. I was no longer creative and I no longer had a vision for what I wanted to become and what I wanted to accomplish. A man without a vision is a lost man. I was lost. Some things are starting to get right with my impending return.
I was very disappointed with what happened while I was here and after taking it all in, my heart pointed to go. Life is very short and efficiency with your days is crucial. You have to protect your time on earth and know that you are empowered and alive at all times. If not, then kick the can on down the road.
Alas, we gaily greet the dawn of a new day. See you in a few hours Ohio. Au revoir.
-Aaron
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