So it seems like I know a lot of people my age, a little older, or a little younger, that are either getting engaged or married. When I check my facebook account, there is always a status update or pictures or comments, etc about someone leaving the single life. For example, today, I saw two engagements status changes. Yesterday, I saw an album from a wedding a few days ago. Last week, another friend got engaged. There's a pattern here... I'm not quite sure what I wanted to express by noting this but I have mixed feelings when I see these things. One, I'm super happy for the couple and if there's a story/picture story, I always find them adorable; two, I'm usually in shock that I know people getting married. It's different when it's your family friend or your parents' friends but these are my friends, people I grew up with, people I can't believe are ready to get married. I'm a firm believer in the expression, "to each their own," but it honestly blows my mind. When did I grow up to be old enough to have my own invitations to weddings? I don't remember a day when I woke up and realized people my age were old enough and mature enough to get married. Did I miss the memo?
I guess when I think about it, it's been a long time coming... I mean, I think about how people who are either already dating now or are starting to date someone think about whether or not the other person would be worth pursuing as a marriage partner. It was never like that when people were dating in high school. I remember a friend who was interested in another mutual friend our senior year in college. She was talking about his characteristics and how she could see him being a good husband and father. It's true--he's a great guy and I could totally see him being a great husband and father but I was caught off guard about how it was necessary to think about these things when there's an interest in someone else. That has only compounded. Now that I'm a college graduate, it feels like there's a lot of pressure to only date someone who is "marriage potential." While I get that some people have always felt this way--why date someone if not for the purpose of marriage (and I'm a Christian so I get it), I still never really felt that urgency until now-ish, that is Senior year of college and post-graduate life. I would say that most people who start dating in high school aren't thinking about marriage. I can't say the same nowadays. I just wanted to note this because I know more and more of my friends and people I know will be getting married from this point forward.
So today's cultural workshop was about cultural adaptation and setting goals. The title is pretty explanatory. Towards the latter part of the presentation, the OCs gave us a piece of stationary paper and an envelope to write down some of our goals for the year. We were to seal it in the envelope and return it to them. Halfway through our grant year, Anthony, the new Program Coordinator (PC) will mail it to us at our schools. We can then compare what we wanted to do and what we actually undertook. I separated my goals into three categories: school, homestay, and personal. I wrote a lot for each and I'm not sure how realistic all my goals are but I'm going to try to fit in as much as possible once I get into my routine. I'm going to give myself at least a month to settle and adjust before trying to start anything though. That much I do know. I still want to revise some of my goals by the time I finish orientation so I'll post those when I really think them through. I was a bit rushed when I wrote them during the workshop.
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