Graduate School Starts! How I got here.

Many times I wonder what choices I made to end up where I am at today, and I reflect. I realized that there are certain choices we have to make in our lives. These key choices are turning points; once the turning point choice has been made then all of the smaller choices made in the past mean nothing. The only meaning they have now is that they led you to the turning point.
How did I end up in graduate school? This is simple the choice I made in June 2007 after my trip in Turkey I decided to do my foreign exchange study program in Japan. I didn’t realize it then, but this changed everything. This choice was what we can call a turning point; when 2008 came, and I left for Japan in September of that year everything changed for better or worse.
I made a simple choice to live in Beppu, Japan for one year, and during that year I was able to travel to more than five countries. I was able to travel all over Japan, and I met some of the most amazing people that have remained in my life since then. I discovered an alternative to what is possible in life. That life isn’t linear, and that my purpose is to not just to simply go to school, get a job, get married, have kids. To some this simplicity sounds great, amazing. To me that before I went to Japan, and after sounds worse than being dead. In fact I thought to myself there has to be more to life than that formula. I only get to enjoy life in college, and then afterwards marriage and kids and job? This doesn’t make any sense. Of course I am not the type of person to marry a woman just for the sake of it. The woman I would like to marry would have to be special, creative, visionary, a jewel. More than anything she would have to enjoy travel, and must be inquisitive. I wonder if such a woman exists? Of course people like this exist in both genders so the question now becomes: will I ever meet this woman? Of course there is more to it than that, and I can dive into the fantasy of a woman who knows how to slow down and smell the roses, one that is serious and when they set a goal in mind they set out to accomplish it, a woman that is light-hearted. I’ve learned that fantasies cannot come true, but the bigger lesson in it is that if we all put our mind to it, we can accomplish dreams.
For me when I was a child my dream was to see and travel the world. I wanted to visit many countries, and places around the world. I wanted to know what it was like to be there, to try the food, to learn the languages. When I was living in Wichita, Ks. I was told that this will never happen, in fact the chances of me even leaving the town was slim according to this person. I first went abroad in the summer of 2006, and at that moment the phrase I told you so rang so loud and clear. Afterwards I found a way to continue to travel and see the world. I was able to study a topic of my interest, and this allowed me to do research in the areas that I wanted to be. I worked hard, and what I chose to study I always had a passion for. I knew right then and there I have achieved a dream. This felt like something from a movie. Surely in real life all we must know is failure? Of course the harsh lesson of failure came, and not only once, but multiple times. At the time I couldn’t recognize it as failure instead I saw it as an opportunity to try something new. . Back in 2009 in March in Tokyo, the moment that it hit me that life is something to be dynamic and interesting was one Sunday morning in Yoyogi park. It was raining, and I had my umbrella, and I walked around, and noticed how many different things that people were doing out in the streets. I noticed that where I come from people are not out and about, and when they are they are not lively. I realized that life at home is too sterile when there is no street life I feel there is a loss in culture, a lack of culture a loss of life. Someday if I do get married, and have children; I want them to experience the things that I have experienced, seen the places I have seen, the sights, the smells, the noise, the people, the crowds, life is happening, and I want to make sure they don’t miss out on this moment.
In the end I have no regrets about the choices I’ve made, and the path I set out. I hope to continue to push forward; I was able to do so after the disasters in Japan last year in March. When I left Japan for the second time in my life I left in a way I didn’t want to leave. I feel that still today there is no real closure, but because I left the way I did I now realize that there is no need for closure. Life is a continuum, and so it seamlessly soldiers forward as we go through its motions.
The people I’ve met, the places I’ve been, the happiness I’ve seen, and the tragedies I have witnessed. Once I realized this wasn’t normal, and that most people within their life-span will never get the chance to experience, and see what I have saw. I realized that I cannot just sit on it, and that I have to take action. I have to do something that makes a difference in this world. Even the little things will do, but it is irresponsible to not go out, and have my voice heard. I know that if I do not make these choices for myself that someone else will, and quite possibly might have an effect on my life that I would rather not have to deal with. This is why I chose to get my Masters of Science in Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Everyone I have ever met during the last six years of my life has led to this path. I hope to continue traveling the world, and I hope I can use my analytical abilities to its fullest