tran·si·tion (n.)

1a: passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another : CHANGE b: a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, or style to another

-- taken from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

another year, another school term, another set of hopes, mistakes, life lessons, fears, self-affirmations, and blessings; a new series of ambitions and academic aims, and a newly rejuvenated heart and mind - all lined up for the next 357 days... and yes, with everything previously mentioned, so brings forth yet another opportunity to start a new blog.

after 4 months of fun n' pho in vietnam, not even 2 days after i arrived, i find myself thrown back into the habits of academic bliss, inconveniently jetlagged and somewhat incoherent. being jolted out of the energy of saigon and back into the snowy depths of canada, and then being chucked back into the busy-ness of "life as a 4b student" shortly after has left me with a strange kind of surreality. on the first day i arrived, i had trouble choosing which language to respond in - english, ilongo, or vietnamese. my nights were restless due to the lack of motorbike hums and streetvender mutterings that would normally serenade me to sleep. and on the first day of classes, my brain hadn't completely registered that being back in canada also meant that road rules here were different from saigon, making the task of crossing the street slightly difficult than what i was used to. suffice it to say, i'm a little messed in the head - but i have high hopes that everything will eventually fall into place once the jetlag subsides.

on a brighter note, seems like this year has taken a positive turn - i've removed myself from the dramas of wcri to the more calmer and happier surroundings of 134 columbia. this past week i've had uber good times reuniting with fantabulous people who i've missed dearly for the past few months :o). my schedule is a full 6-course load, but i welcome the healthy academic fear (as well as the luxury of having 4-day weekends) of the next 4 months being the last semester of my undergrad career in waterloo - EVER. :oD

and once again i am overwhelmed. this whole process of transition can be quite energy-consuming it seems, even more so how much it's going to take for me to readjust to everything again. from my newfound inabilities to speak proper english, to the shock of my church kids suddenly towering over me, to friends unexpectedly getting engaged and/or married, to all the (english) movies that i've missed, to thinking that hearing english radio is such an odd phenomenon, to getting used to paying more than 50 cents for a bowl of pho - all these things are just proof that nothing ever really stays the same, and that yes, life really does go on regardless of wherever i am. it's a known fact that change is inevitable, but it's one fact that i seem to have taken rather lightly in the past few months. strangely enough, i too have been shaped into someone much different than the person who left canada last august. i'm not really sure when it all happened, but the reality of it all is that it did... somewhere over time, i grew up a little, changed a little, lived a little, and gained a whole lotta wisdom along the way - *gasp* - even in my most humdrum moments, things are happening, one circumstance leading to the next.

such an oddity, this thing called change...