Last weekend marked the one-year anniversary of college graduation. Woah. I, for one, cannot believe how this year has flown by. Last thing I remember it was graduation, and me, Rachel, Shanon, Meara, Kevin, Kyle, Albert, and a few others went on that ill-fated trip to Big Al's the night after graduation. hahahaha!!! This year has been challenging, for so many reasons, however I have learned a lot about myself and resiliency. And just a shout-out to Kelsey: I don't quite know what I would have done without you this year. Seriously. Would probably be much less emotionally stable if you were not here!
So, obviously this year after graduation did not go quite as planned with my job. Although my AmeriCorps experience was filled with ups and downs, I can truly say I am glad I gave it a shot. I wish I had been able to do the program and serve the kids I was hired to work with, but it didn't work out that way. In the mean time, I got to reconnect with old friends (Jackie), and stay in touch with others (Nissana), and make new ones. I also got to learn about NLF, and structures of social services, power, and social justice in Tacoma. I got to meet new people who are important in the city, learn how choices are made, and also see bureaucracy at work in many ways. When all you want to do is serve people, seeing the barriers that various social structures put in place for you to do that work makes it quite frustrating. However, I am also quite glad I made the choice to leave when I did. I am so lucky to have my job at Camp Berachah, and get to work with horses and get paid to do what I love! Sometimes I feel so lucky, and almost like I am cheating them, because I love it so much! Although I love it a lot, I am quite ready for this session of lessons to be over (1.5 more weeks) and have a break before the craziness of summer camp starts!
What else... Well, I guess no one really prepared me for the feelings of social isolation I would feel. No one really sat me down and said, "Okay, Jessica, congrats on graduating from college, but now all of your friends are going to be scattered all over the country/world, and you basically have to start over from scratch. Good luck with that one..." If I didn't have Kelsey, I would go crazy. Not even kidding. Also, it has been great to get to see Taylor more often, and of course my family. It's definitely been trying at times, but also good for me to spend more time studying and such!
Grad school: So, I am about to finish up my third quarter of grad school. It has been quite the experience so far, although I am enjoying this quarter. One of my classes right now is "Adult Mental Health Diagnosis", and we spend hours upon hours reading the DSM. Although it's a lot of reading, I feel like I have actually learned a lot about mental disorders, more than I have learned in any other class. Also, this class is the first in this program where I am acquiring new information, which is kind of suprising since it's grad school! I am starting my practicum at the end of June, which I will be doing at Nativity House, a daytime drop in center for the homeless in Tacoma (check them out at www.nativityhouse.org). This summer will be super busy, working at camp 8-5 on the weekdays, then class on Tuesday nights, and practicum all day (10 hours) every Saturday...
Well, that's a summary of the last years. Lots of lows, lots of highs... I am looking forward to the next one.
Thanks for reading!
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2 comments:
Jessica, You do such a great job of expressing yourself. The lessons you've learned this year have been hard yet lessons we all need to learn. Not to minimize in anyway what you have experienced this year, you are stronger than you were a year ago and heading in the right direction. Have I told you how proud I am of you? Mom
Jess! I miss you so much, and I can totally identify with the scattered friends problem. I never knew how hard it would be, but it does feel so lonesome still sometimes. Glad to hear that things are going well for you though. Hope we can see each other soon! Love you!
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