University Non-News

As you can see from the blog entry below, it is official: we are moving to Norwich in August. There's only one small wrinkle. For the past few months I've been assuming that I would apply to the PhD program in Norwich and both Rich and I would be in school at the same time. Well, that most likely would still happen if I could force myself to choose a PhD topic and write the proposal. Unfortunately, it has finally become apparent to me that I don't want to go back to school next fall. Maybe never. All these weeks I've tried and tried to settle on a research topic and while lots of things are interesting to me, I just can't force myself to do it. At first I thought I was just having trouble making a decision and kept getting off track with different ideas, but that is not the real problem. When I finally got honest with myself and admitted that maybe I might not want to go back, I felt so relieved and about ten pounds lighter. Even after realizing this, I tried to talk myself back into it over and over, badgering myself with questions (Am I a quitter again? Quitting school before it even starts? If I don't go back to school, what kind of career will I have? Do I want a career? Going back to school was my plan and if I don't go, what's the new plan? Would anyone in the U.K. hire me? Will I be happy working while Rich is in school? Etc.). I still don't know the answers to these questions - along with about a hundred more - but beginning a PhD this fall is not the right road for me.

The logistics of moving to England are slowly being worked out and we are starting to look forward to a new adventure. There are still four months of Belgian time left, so we're busy making plans for that too. And I've decided to not make a new plan. I've never not had a plan, so this is completely new territory. We know we're moving, we know Rich will be in school and that's all we know.

~K