HOL Ravenclaw

This wasn't necessary an adventure per se, but I recently started my next stage of education, and that was something I was very anxious about for different reasons at different times. I now train full time in musical theatre, but before I'd make that final decision, I had a lot of thoughts about whether it was the right choice because of how hard it is to work professionally in the industry. Even when I finally said for certain that it was what I wanted to do, I still had options of where to go, as I had friends going to different places, and offers from multiple places that I had to compare myself - some had better dance training but had less people I already knew going, whereas at others, I'd be with lots of my friends, but not receive quite as high a standard of training. When I actually started, I was also worried about meeting new people, because I've never been particularly great at starting conversations or making friends (in school, I spent most of my time in the library), but I'm pleased to confirm that everything is going great, I've made some great new friends, I've already improved so much, and I'm super excited for everything that's yet to come!

This is a great segue from my previous post, as I have never experienced anything as novel and unfamiliar as moving to Japan.

When I came here, I could barely speak a lick of Japanese. I was thrown into a new world as a research student, trying to amass as much knowledge as I could in my field (Law) in as little time as possible. I had to not only learn the language and the customs of the country I decided to move to, but also a completely novel legal system and new forms to interact with those who were around me.

However, more interestingly than that was the process of self-discovery. I believe that being thrown into unfamiliar scenarios bring up our true selves, or at least help us develop what could be construed as parts of our personalities that are just waiting to erupt. In Brazil, I was commonly perceived as an intellectual that was described by little other than that simple trait. When I moved to Japan, things changed drastically: I prided myself much more on being unique and disrupting social expectations, as well as having leadership traits, to the point these became the characteristics most would use to describe myself nowadays. In a sense, moving to a different country is a blank slate for rewriting our story, and there is nothing more novel than deciding who you want to be when given free rein to change your reality.

Done! I had a blast making my avatar!
https://i.postimg.cc/bv9p1WvH/My-HOL-Avatar.png

Done

I wish I could say that I travelled the world and got lost in some exotic country, but the truth is, I've only traveled around the United States. When I did travel I was always with someone to hep rely on to found our way around... BUT, the one time I was really on my own was when I got married and moved from NYC to upstate NY, to the suburbs of Guilderland, NY. Now, being born and bred in NYC I could travel around the 5 boroughs of NYC but put me in what I considered "the country" I was absolutely lost at first.

I knew how to get to the in-laws, a couple of supermarkets and my place of work, but others... I knew nothing about the lay of the land. Now mind you this is before the days of cell phones and having GPS that you could just pop in the address and BAM... there is it on a screen! And at first there wasn't even Map Quest that you could print out directions to get you someplace, but even with that when it came along, if you made a wrong turn your paper didn't "recalculate"... you were lost... that is until you turned around and went place to the area you made that wrong turn.

It took a while, but I did find my way around and now this place is home.

And GPS still is a life saver sometimes!

[OUT OF CHARACTER]
In January 2012, I was invited to take an eight month assignment as a "Tutkijatohtori" (which literally means "research doctor"; essentially it's a postdoctoral position) at a major university in Finland. This meant moving my very cold blooded self from California, known for mild winters, to a country known for extreme cold. But first I stopped off at my parents in Maryland, where I was bundled up for freezing temperature (ironically, when I landed in Finland, it was warmer than it had been in Maryland)!

Even though I had loved Finland from my previous visit there (in the summer of 2007, for a conference), this was an entirely different experience. But I started with a weekend at the hotel I knew from that conference, soaked in everything I remembered loving about the city, and was able to orient myself a little bit when my postdoctoral mentor met me at the hotel to take me to my apartment (and then to the math department). By then, winter had truly set in, so those clothes became necessary... and of course I spent most of the first week simply getting lost everywhere!

Eventually I got my internal compass in order, falling in love with the way the city was planned (very well heated buildings, easy to get around and hide from the element, amazing public transit, great views of nature), making an impression on my colleagues, and even improving my Finnish! It's been over a decade, and I still miss Finland... but not enough to want to spend another winter there!