Duel of the Fates

I'm supposed to register classes for the spring quarter and was struck by the fact that those will (hopefully) be the last courses I'll take in my four years as an university student. Soon I will graduate and then begin a new life, as an adult, a carrier woman, an engineer. However, the prospect of working nine-to-five in an office seems...dull. It's not superexciting, unless I find a really inspiring job, and I don't know what job that would be.

I've always taken the safe way out, I started university immediately after finishing high school, instead of working as a bartender in Spain and save the money for a backpacking trip through Asia. But maybe I would've lived more fully if I'd done things like that. Things out of my safety zone. Being abroad has widened my view of what I can do in my life. What I can and cannot live without. I can live without most of my stuff, I just need a bed to sleep in, something warm to wear, my iPod, computer and cell phone. However, I cannot live without purpose. Or a boring life. So I've started considering the possibility of joining Engineers Without Borders, maybe when I've graduated, and live in a developing country and work as a volunteer for a few months. Or at least join Amnesty International, like Mom did in her youth.

Dreams. For so long, going to California was my dream, it kept me going when the times were tough. But now, when I'm here, it is no more, so I need a new dream...