Since I leave for Germany in less than three days, I decided it's time to create this blog, which I have promised to both friends and family.
First, to take care of some business, I also will have another blog at:
http://blogs.lawrence.edu/fromgermany/
I am writing that one, which will be accessible by Lawrence students, for the study abroad program at Lawrence. Needless to say, it will be much less personal, but still another link to my life abroad.
Now, to begin with the purpose of this post:
where, when and why I am going
(and I apologize in advance for the lengthy posts, starting with this one, which will inevitably accumulate here)
Where:
Freiburg, Germany
It's a beautiful city in southwestern Germany, fairly close to the border of France.
I will be only a few short hours south of Stuttgart, where my aunt and cousins are currently living.
My actual address will be 150/06/00/21 Merzhauserstraße.
Unfortunately, I have yet to be exactly sure of what all those numbers actually mean. I believe it has to do with building, floor, suite, room...but then again, I've been wrong before. Time will tell.
When:
Tuesday.
Yeah, that's this Tuesday. I will actually get there on Wednesday, September 3rd, though.
I will be back late on December 20th...meaning I get to fit my life into 2 suitcases...and it has to last nearly four months. Needless to say, the packing-progress has been slow.
And, most importantly, why:
I wish I could list each and every reason that experiencing this is so important to me, but I will spare you all a couple of hours, and highlight what I feel to be the most important of my many reasons.
1. Learning.
The best way to learn a language is to live in a country that speaks the language.
Most of you know that my love for language does not stop with English. I had the opportunity at Lawrence to either learn the basics of several languages, or master one. I want to be able to discover the subtleties of German in the same way that I often attempt to understand those of English. What an amazing opportunity it will be to live with native speakers and improve my ability to comprehend and speak German.
2. Diversity.
To me, diversity is not just going to school with people of a race or religion other than my own; diversity is learning other ways to speak, live and think. I have no doubt that the American mindset is unique, and I intend to discover other ways to think and approach the world.
3. Discovery.
I want to discover language and culture, but most importantly, I want to discover myself.
It seems that finally, after all of this writing, I come to explain the title of my first entry:
"infinite."
I wanted to be sure that the adjective is in quotations, so that I know you understand that the title is the adjective itself. I am highlighting this adjective as Borges did in his short story "The Library of Babel." For those of you reading this from Lawrence, most of you recognize this story ,since it was covered in Freshman Studies. For some of you it was an assignment, but for me, it has become inspiration.
For those of you unfamiliar with Borges or this story, he describes a library which houses books that contain everything that can and will ever be written, nonsense in any and all languages, and perhaps the most precious secrets of the universe. Every person's life story is written in variations of truth and falsity...but since there can only be a certain number of letters and a certain number of pages in each book...eventually, there will come an end to the possibility of books. The library, however, is infinite. Eventually, the same chaotic pattern of books and nonsense and knowledge will repeat itself, infinitely.
Borges addresses the reader several times in this short story, and stops to take note of the word "infinite." He says, "it is not illogical to think that the world is infinite." And even goes on to say that it is absurd to think that it ends.
This is one of my favorite stories, because in the end, Borges finds solace in the idea that although the books are chaotic and seemingly random, the chaos becomes order in virtue of its infinite repetition.
Since reading this story, I have sense thought about the true book, which holds the story of my life, would say...and also what a "false" book might say...
What I have come to conclude is this:
I can choose which book is to be the right book, but only once my life is over. If I spend to much time searching for the book that holds my "fate," my book would be filled with the time I spent searching instead of the time I spent living. I don't want to be a librarian wasting away in the infinite library, looking for sense and wisdom amidst the chaos. I want to be a part of the chaos.
The possibilities are infinite.
Germany, here I come.
