A different kind of winter break

Tomorrow, I'll be back in school. It's rather a weird feeling; I always have so much I intend to get done, but usually I do get it done, and also read two or three novels and play the piano and see friends and drink buckets of tea. Winter break has always seemed too short to travel, yet can't really be said to go fast, because all the things I'm doing are of my own volition and thus aren't rushed.

This break has been unlike any other. I spent six days out of state at an international student ministry conference. I have been writing applications for scholarships for a summer study abroad program (!!). As with other breaks, I have done some mending and cooking, but honestly cooking isn't bringing me as much joy as it used, so I've been procrastinating on that.

I've also been doing various things that are unlike any other break because... I am no longer an education major. I am a blissfully happy and incredibly blessed history major. This has led to time spent scheduling a museum internship and brushing up on my French in preparation for studying it this semester.

What I have not been doing: sleeping in, exercising regularly, drinking tea, or reading novels. Until I got sick a few days ago, that is, in which time I slept 10 hours, took a nap, finished two books (A Million Miles in a Thousand Years and Hi Hitler!) and drank several cups of tea to compensate for my relatively tea-less break. I also became so brain dead that I culled probably a hundred pins from my Pinterest and even considered watching Downton Abbey (reserved for the very sickest days when my brain is functioning at such a low level that a doctor would probably pronounce me dead). The couple days leading up to school have been less productive than I planned, but such is life. It is good to be reminded that the world can indeed go on functioning if I do none of the things on my planner.

And yet, it has been such a good break too, even if different or less productive than previous years. I am so incredibly blessed by the friends I have seen (each and every one of you, if you're reading this post), the time at the conference, and, even if I haven't been less busy, a change of pace from the school year.

I am also excited to go back to school, which is a completely new thing for me. This is directly related to the above, namely, the major change and Vision Conference. I intended to write a post about the process of changing my major months ago (it was official the second week of October) but the draft is currently about three million words long, and that's way too much to bother with if only I care two figs about it. So if you're reading this, let me know if you are curious about the long, multifaceted story that led to me changing my major (something I swore I'd never do yet accomplished only 10 days after I first considered it) and I will persevere and share it with you.

If not, the short story is that history is and always has been my passion but I didn't think that I could or should get a job if I majored in history. Then I learned that I could, so I did. Now I am going into a semester enrolled in Elementary French II and three history courses (one being an independent study with my favorite professor), as well as doing an internship at a tiny local museum. Does it get any better than that??

And now I need to finish mending some socks. Because whether I like a productive winter break or not, it needs to be done.