The Time Has Come the Walrus Said....

The time has come the walrus said to talk of many things…

Well the walrus was right, I have a lot to say, and have had a lot to say the past six months on this blog.  First off thank you to everyone who has read this blog whether it is diligently, a couple times, just once, or you liked the link post on Facebook.  I don’t know if I ever said this but leaving my home, family, friends and the US of A for six months was and has been very difficult at times, but thanks to constant support and cheers from my family and friends those difficult times seem very insignificant now.

            This time in Switzerland has gone by faster than I ever could have imagined and has left me with even more of an appetite to explore this big-wide world.  Last weekend I had the opportunity to spend my last weekend abroad in Interlaken, Switzerland.  I have been to a lot of places in the past six months but nothing compares to the beauty of Interlaken.  The two lakes nestled amongst the Swiss Alps are the truest teal I have ever seen and the whole place emits a spectacular peace and beauty.  My friends Krista, Yan-Yan and I swam in the giant teal swimming pool, spent some time drinking wine and worshipping Beyoncé, attempted to hike to a small village called Wilderswil, kayaked around Lake Brienz, and overall just felt like we were on top of the world….

            Amongst all of this fun I have spent the last two weeks frantically trying to finish my independent research project that SIT students are required to complete.  For my topic I decided to research and explore historic, current and new approaches to funding for education development specifically in Senegal and Ghana.  This project was spurred by the challenges facing education I observed in Senegal and since then my interest in international education development has magnified ten fold.  I understand and accept that not everyone is as interested or fascinated by the issues of financing and reforming education development as I am, however if you are just let me know and I will give you more information on my project (which I finished today…BOOM).

            Now to the mushy gushy stuff, you might be wondering about the title of this blog post.  The line, “The time has come the walrus said, to talk of many things” is from the poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter” by Lewis Carroll and can be found in the book Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.  The poem can also attribute its fame to the movie Harriet the Spy, and although I am a huge Harriet fan, my hopes of being a spy are not the reason I chose this poem as my final blog title. 

I love this poem.  I have always specifically liked this line and it comes to mind when something is ending, or beginning.  So I guess it works perfectly in this case.  My six months of gallivanting are over and I have to return back to the US and start thinking about becoming an adult, but I think the past six months have prepared me for that.  I suppose in some ways I am like Alice (insert blonde hair reference) as she wasn’t really sure what she wanted before she entered that rabbit hole.  She had some crazy adventures down there and found out a lot about herself.  She realized that its okay to be lost sometimes, that people (or in her case caterpillars) are generally kind and willing to help, that there is vibrancy all around you, and most importantly discomfort causes courage (maybe that one was just me).  
Anyway, as I sit here writing this last post I cant help feeling like Alice and trying to decide if this was all a wonderful, challenging, fulfilling, eye-opening dream.  It scares me a little to go back to the United States because it is no longer the place I am most recently familiar with and besides finishing college I am not sure what happens next but if I am taking my notes from Alice then “if this is my dream I’ll decide where it goes from here.”