So I didn't receive the scholarship that I wanted but we decided to go to Beijing anyway. And then at breakfast the other day Jess and I were talking...and it all changed again!
We have always operated under the premise that if we were in the States I would work full-time and go to school part-time meaning I would graduate in the Spring of 2011. We wanted to go to Beijing because I would be able to graduate in the Winter of 2010, much better.
However, while we talking we thought, "what if you went to school full-time?" This got us thinking about how many credit hours I have left to graduate. We did some 'figurin' and discovered that if we came back to the States in August and I went to school full-time I could graduate in May 2010.
Whoa. (insert Keanu Reeves)
That throws the whole equation out of whack, so now we don't know what to do. A couple that we have become friends with made a very wise reference to Alice in Wonderland (so many jokes so little time!) but he said that Alice comes to a fork in the road and doesn't know which way to go. There is a cat in the tree and the cat asks her what's wrong. She responds that she doesn't know which way to go. The cat asks, "where are you going?" And Alice replies that she doesn't really know. "Well then it doesn't really matter which way you go", replied the cat.
I know it sounds cheesy but I though it was pretty profound that I don't know where we are going! So that's been what we're praying about, where are we going? Not geographically but in the end what will be the purpose of my degree and will going to Beijing really affect it in a significant way.
So now we're trying to weigh which is better: to graduate quickly or to have the experience. We've tried to cover both ends if need be by Jessie applying to both a county school in Maryland and several schools in Beijing.
We'll keep you updated on the process. I'm waiting to hear back from Peking Univ in regards to my acceptance and Jessie is waiting to hear back from the schools she's applied to. I suppose all those factors together will help us make a better decision.
1 comment:
I once worked a small company that manufactured experimental satellites for NASA. The founder of the company was quite a character. He was able to build satellites nearly 3 times as cheaply and twice as fast as all the other players in the market. He used some pretty radical enginnering concepts. He mastered the gravity gradient boom and actually flew a tape measure and a mercedes trunk latch into space. But his most sage advice came not through his engineering but through his business acumen. He had a slightly different take on Lewis Carroll. He said that when you get to a fork in the road, step on the gas, not the breaks. He would often have two engineering teams attacking the same problem with two different solutions. He said, in the end, the best answer will make itself apparent. Looks like you guys are already all over this method. Truly you are blessed with a number of wonderful options. All paths will be good for you because it's about the journey, not the destination.
-Dan
d.molino@att.net
Post a Comment