I grew up in Germany and was lucky to go on some really amazing trips abroad: In 7th grade we went to England by ferry and bus and gave the sleeping boys hickeys on the bus and put balls of Kleenex in their mouths. I remember getting into the car of my host family. I was nervous, the first time in my life I was alone and dependent on the little English I knew. In 8th grade our school had just made friends with a school in Brisbane, Australia, and we headed out for a month of which we spent two weeks camping in the outback, petting kangaroos, koalas and boa constrictors. In 9th grade we flew to the U.S. to stay with host families in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. Before, we made a stop in New York where an electrician of our hotel who found us roaming the halls late at night took us up on the roof and I fell in love with the city that I now call my home.
Point being, these are some of my fondest memories. I grew up, I went to musical theatre school, I spent my years as a starving artist/occasional actress, met my wonderful husband Ken and got married, worked a desk job at a law firm, got what I thought was my dream job working for PETA, until they laid me off, and I realized how much I missed school. That's how I ended up at BMCC. I hadn't the faintest idea of how much I would love it there. I think the first time I heard about the trip to Salzburg was when Professor Clock mentioned it during our summer history class while we were freezing and huddled up due to an overactive AC. I wasn't going to leave Ken for long, and for some odd reason I didn't jump on the idea. The following semester during one of my weekly visits to Professor Mansouri's office she asked me directly if I planned on applying. I started thinking about it, talked to Ken who was encouraging (it was only for a week), and applied. I got so into my application that I blew up one of my favorite pictures that I took of patina in the park and made a fancy folder. I had to force myself not to obsess, and wait patiently.
Finally, during the winter break I got a phone call for the interview. Yessss. I wasn't really on break, taking daily 2 1/2 hour intensives of Short Story with Professor Messitt whom I had wanted so badly to take Modern European Novel with in the fall, but the class had been cancelled. I came in early and interviewed with the committee of eight, including Dean Craig whom I had met after attending her scholarship workshop. I had liked her so much that I made an appointment to tell her how much I enjoyed her poetry that she regularly wrote for her students. Some other familiar faces were in the room, and the questioning started. It lasted about 20 minutes. Everyone around the table had a turn with a prepared question. Some of them really threw me, one was prepared: I was asked to talk about Globalization. It was challenging, and not easy, and I knew that I hadn't answered perfectly, but I had given my best, I felt. I was psyched up more than before now, and made Ken not let me talk about the S word, so I wouldn't go nutty and then be disappointed.
Last night I checked my e-mail and it asked to get in touch with the scholarship office. I stopped by today and Dean Craig directed me into her office with the words: "We couldn't take everybody, there was just so many of you that were so qualified." My stomach sunk and I thought that perhaps it wasn't meant to be. I'll just stay in over the break and write my honors paper on Iran's nuclear situation and read the Fountainhead and Hegemony or Survival. "Oh, so I didn't get it," I said, and I got a smile in response and the words: "No, you did!" followed by hugs and some bouncing on my part. It was beautiful. Mike from the paper was there, too, and I got to share some of my initial excitement, which is always the best kind. Dean Craig asked whom I would tell first. "My husband," I responded, and, well, he sleeps sort of late since he works in Theatre, he works late nights mostly, and I called him a little later, but he was still within the first five people that found out.
Now, I really want to know who else is going, students and faculty, and when the first workshop is, and when we fly out, how long we stay, what the itinerary is, where we are staying, but none of those details have been revealed and I find myself once again trying not to think about it too much. I posted a forum on BMCC's MySpace page, so hopefully I'll find at least one person to get excited with.
With this post I begin my documented journey on our trip to Austria. I plan to give you more background on the seminar itself and the country as well, and of course, fill you in an all the details along the way. For now I have to read Act 3 of As You Like It.
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