A dream

Written Tuesday, August 31, 2004 @ 12:22

Originally posted (when the problems all began) Tuesday, August 31, 2004 @ 14:38

In the summer of 1997, just before Grade 12, I took my OAC core French credit in Leysin, Switzerland. A company in Ontario ran a month long program that let students take a French credit while staying in a small Alp town in Switzerland and shelling out a pretty big wad of cash. I jumped at the opportunity to go to Europe, because back in elementary school I didn’t have the opportunity to go to Paris.
My elementary school, "school", used to have the best field trips. The Intermediates (Grade 7 and 8) had an opportunity to either go to Paris, France or Yucatan, Mexico. For some reason, there was no option of going to Paris and so I went to the Yucatan Peninsula instead (which was super-fun in itself).
So, since I’ve got the best parents ever (it’s pretty amazing the lengths they’ll go to for their childrens’ happiness) I was heading to Leysin on what would be my most eye-opening experience up to that point.
I was young, 15 to be exact. I’d never been outside of the continent before (although I was a pretty well traveled young lady, courtesy of mom’s previous jobs at travel companies) and been away from home for such a long period of time. Switzerland was my first chance to be on my own and rule the world. I’m the youngest of the family you see. I’m the youngest relative of all the relatives I know (or at least at that point I was). For the most part, I hang/hung out with people older than me. I’m a girl. The point is, I was really looking forward to experiencing something on my own that I could totally call my own. I think one of my happiest moments of the trip was just standing in Leysin, the sun shining brightly, looking down on some clouds and the town below.
Europe was always one of those places I’d wanted to see. The culture, the huge tourist monuments. Museums. Sites. Sounds. I wanted to take it all in.After coming home I just felt so good about myself. It was like I’d breathed in a huge breathe of air and felt so rejuvenated. I was on a pretty good high.
I knew I wanted to go back again at some point, but I didn’t know how, or when it would happen. I thought that it may come in the form of a vacation a long time away.
Flash forward to second year university. Skating on the "team", happily going about my business, not thinking too much about the future, fully in love with a sport that I was drowning myself in. Insert "J", team captain in the year prior, now completing her "CE" degree at Queen’s. "J" was a volunteer coach for the skating team that year, and doing a great job with it. In conversation with her, I also learned that she was going to be doing her alternative practicum in Switzerland. This was also around the time that I was beginning my application to get into the MAS (Math and Science) Concurrent Education program which "J" knew of and gave me advice about.
Flash forward to a couple months later, and "J" is talking about getting a teaching job in Lausanne. I must admit that this is where my mind is a little fuzzy. I’m pretty sure that "J" somehow got me stuck on my goal to return back to Switzerland as a teacher at an international school (right out of my B. Ed.), but I can’t figure out if it was after knowing that she did it, or what. All I know is that somewhere in there, a seed was planted, and in true Limin fashion, I just went at it at full force.
This goal was my way to return back to the country that made me beam. I’d be returning back on my own, while still young enough to discover more and feel independent and strong. I also knew that being my money-pinching self, I couldn’t just pick up my stuff and travel around Europe just spending left right and center.
I know that I definitely had the goal come third year, and I’m pretty sure that I’ve got my story straight, but I know my memory fails me. Often.