One semester down, one to go

Written on January 8, 2025, published once I was able to borrow a neighbor’s Wifi.

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I’m convinced that airplanes are the best place to ponder and write about life. Last time I wrote a blog post, I was on a plane headed to Waco, and that’s where I find myself again. I said goodbye to my brother and parents in Nebraska this afternoon, and I will be en route to Colombia in just 48 hours.

The Christmas break felt as though it flew by, as it always does, but I actually had 26 full days to spend time with friends and family. Feel free to skip right over that last sentence if you are in any way affiliated with Fulbright. Nearly a month away from Colombia! It’s hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I am already halfway through my Fulbright grant period. Time flies when you are having fun, truly.

I have been wanting to reflect on Semester #1 for quite a few weeks, but if you have been keeping up with this blog at all, you know that my hasty return trip from Colombia before Christmas was unexpected and incredibly sad. Que siga viva siempre la memoria de la hermana María. That grief, especially for her family, goes with us in this new year. and I feel like my mind and heart are just beginning to resurface after several weeks of general exhaustion and numbness.

Christmas break

For me, every Christmas break at home since I first began university outside Nebraska always feels like a little surreal bubble. From mid-December to mid-January, I leave behind my university community to spend a few blissful weeks sans-routine in my family home. One by one, the siblings arrive by car or airplane, this year from Georgia, Pittsburgh, and Colorado. We unpacked suitcases in our childhood bedrooms, ate a mountain of snacks and homemade baked goods, gathered around the kitchen table for hours to chat and sip the hot rooibos tea that Dad never fails to prepare every night, crowded onto the basement couch every time the Edmonton Oilers played, and even not-so-secretly snuck one lucky farm cat into the house to cuddle.

The “kids” continued the yearly tradition of putting up ornaments and sleeping under the Christmas tree on Christmas, and we all gathered on Christmas morning to read the Luke account of Jesus’ birth, open presents, and eat Mom’s delicious cinnamon rolls. Happy to report that no salt or yeast was left out in this year’s batch. We rang in the New Year with worship and prayer, surrounded by friends.

This past month certainly had its lows, but one major highlight is the new (mini!) skating rink with free admission that Norfolk just opened. Since the Wicker family already owns 10+ pairs of skates, we get in for free! “Never let me tell myself that I don’t want to go skating, I never regret going!” I instructed my sister. She understood the assignment, and I probably completed 200+ laps over my five or six visits to that little rink. When not watching hockey or skating, I crocheted a baby blanket for a friend, watched a couple seasons of Emily in Paris, listened to the audiobook Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, baked bread, muffins & monster cookies, hung out with my family, and visited a few local friends. Not once did I go to sleep before midnight, and I brought my fancy Asics running shoes all the way from Colombia but then forgot to wear them when I ran a single treadmill mile with my future sister-in-law (!).

It was good to be home.

I heard a quote once that stuck with me, something like “the unexamined life is not one worth living.” It’s a good reminder for someone like me who tends to stay busy and often avoids pausing to reflect on my life and really truly feel my emotions. That’s what I hope to do as I enter this new year and begin a second semester in Colombia