Winter term, here I come!

Today I digress from my usual route of objectivity and indulge in a bit of narcissism.

Alhamdulillah, I have successfully completed the fall term at Laurier. Although the three-week winter break was badly needed after the end-of-term deadline rush, I was agog for the start of the next term. I have not felt this kind of excitement to go back to school and I take this as sign that I really have chosen the right direction in my studies. Although, being able to say so with definitive surety does come at a high price.

I have attended university at institutions in two different countries. Both cost my parents dearly and I can't thank them enough for indulging in my uncertain goals. The years that I have spent on studying for the wrong vocation never fails to fill me guts with choleric anxiety. However - at the risk of sounding corny and clichéd - neither one of those places gave me such a thrill to learn as I do now.

I still committedly attend to my duties of a student on a term break - lazing about to the nth degree - but now I welcome the coming of the new term with gusto instead of with lassitude and reluctance as I did in the past. I remember the night before the start of my second term in Australia. I was psyching myself up for the first day at school and looking through my courses and their syllabi. When later I had trouble falling asleep, I decided to call my parents back home. Out of nowhere (at least, no place I can identify) came a torrent of tears and anxiety and heartfelt 'the-last-semester-was-so-hard-I-don't-know-if-I-can-do-another-one'.

This time around, my winter break feels like it's moving far too slowly. I find myself mentally drumming my fingers for school to start again. Now, with only a few more days left of sleeping in, watching TV, gaming on Facebook and reading non-required readings, I still beckon the coming term with frantic waves of enthusiasm.

Winter term, here I come.