Life is short, but wide.

There’s a certain camaraderie and togetherness that tends to arrive at the end of things. Solidarity always feels strongest when we know it won’t last for long. 

The program technically still has one more day, but I’ve had to duck out early. As I type, I stare out the scratched window of my Amtrak train car, at the endless flatness that reminds me so much of the past. Everything is a shade of dark gray and the reflection of the computer screen puts a ghostly floating square in the view from the window. 

Today was our poster session where everyone presented their independent study projects. We have so many personalities in this program, so many people who are genuinely themselves and don’t realize how unique and wonderful that is. I think this semester was a transformative experience for everyone, each in different ways. 

As we lived in Chicago, we spent our time thinking about things we wouldn’t normally think about in school, our thought processes diverted from their usually focuses, a different mentality slowly emerging as we get older and our breadth of experiences grows wider. The poster was valuable not necessarily to see the product of a semester’s labor (though that was cool) but valuable because every person had a different philosophy or mentality forming, and this process of discovery for that particular person was fascinating to learn about, as a peer. Everyone’s personality in relation to their individual philosophies really came through in a diverse and beautiful way. We’re all on the Chicago program, we’re all having transformative experiences, but exactly what those experiences are and how they transform us are truly individual.

My time spent in the Chicago wasn’t all good, and it certainly wasn’t all bad. It was intense. There were serious highs and lows, but everything was always moving and churning, nothing really paused, and I spent my time keeping half of my mind focused on what needed to be done in the moment and half of it planning for the future. 

If anything, I think we all grew out, not up. Life might be short, but it is wide. There are so many venues, societies, communities, ideas, personalities, philosophies, and values we can extend ourselves into. We’re so much more fluid than we think, so much more susceptible to change than we realize. But I think, after this program of unique experiences, that we’re beginning to realize that our identity is only what we make it to be. If anything, this semester has taught me to act just as much as I react, cause as much as I am affected, instigate as much as I encounter. We're not drowning in the city, we’re purposefully swimming to it’s depths.


--Silvia
@SilviaElenaFF
silvia.foster.frau@gmail.com