My blog skills have noticeably diminished. I don’t even remember how to fix my header/menu. I am too scared to fuck around with it.
But anyways, maybe I’ll have some time/motivation to blog more. Trying this new thing called “not taking too many classes”. Quid non.
That might be the phrase/motto of the year, quid non. It means “why not” in Latin. Apparently it was the motto for one of the first gentlemen to come to Jamestown from England. Or something like that. But I feel like it’s a good motto for me at this point in my life. I think I’ve accumulated enough knowledge about myself and the world around me to take some risk and quid non shit once in a while. I’ve always been into trying new things and being serendipitous when appropriate. I think I’ve finally got a good working idea of “planned serendipity” down. That is, to put myself in a position where I can take advantage of opportunities but still always have something to fall back on. Structured freedom. Sorta like going into the wilderness but with a satellite phone, GPS, and proper gear just in case. I think it’s a pretty good life strategy. Maybe I’ll add semper paratus (it even sounds cool, maybe everything that ends in the Latin -tus just sound cool) to my motto list. But that’s more like a boy scout motto rather than a legionary one. Whatever. Semper fi works too.
The key component of my new life strategy is to take a Grand Tour after graduation. Quid non. I’m hoping to do many many things that I have been wanting to do and haven’t gotten a chance to do yet. Maybe after that I’ll be ready to go to med school. This Grand Tour is probably the most exciting thing that I’ve decided to do ever. Note that it won’t be happening for at least 8-months and I am already using it as a motivational tool for everything. Note also it’s the only thing that made me blog in the last 3 months.
So, I’m gonna use this “space” to air out some ideas/planning for my Grand Tour for my own benefit, and maybe you’ll want to talk to me/comment about it. Here are some categories of things I am thinking of, all of which will probably need extensive trimming. My basic plan is to travel all over the world. Hopefully I will be able to stay with some friends and families/friends of friends and WWOF to defray living expenses. I’m also hoping to settle in some English speaking country/area for a few months when I get weary so I can recharge and hopefully make some money. New Zealand is the leading canidate so far, but also considering Great Britain, South Africa, Canada, and/or any other English speaking countries. Or even somewhere where they speak a little English. I also plan on being able to come back to the US for my med school interviews…or else I would’ve applied for a Watson fellowship. A free $25,000 could’ve been useful… As it stands I’m hoping to somehow gather around $15,000 or so as an initial fund. Might be tempting to play with some stocks, we’ll see if I have time…
Places (damn, I can probably write a whole post of things I want to do in every place on this list, but this is a start I suppose)
- Jerusalem
- Mecca
- Istanbul
- Italy
- Spain
- Armenia
- Egypt
- South Africa
- East Africa
- Gibraltar
- SE Asia
- India
- Australia/New Zealand
- Pampas
- Andes
- Patagonia
- Amazon
- Siberia
- St. Pete
- Moscow
- Vienna
- Tahiti/other tiny Pacific Islands
- England/Scotland/Ireland/Shetland Islands
- India
- China
Skills
- scuba diving
- horseback riding
- surfing
- Spanish or French or Italian
- martial arts
- rap
Experiences/sights
- Premier League game
- Elephants
- Orcas
Equipment/Shwag
Books
I suppose this idea has been brewing in my mind for awhile, but I finally feel comfortable saying quid non and deciding on it. I feel like I should probably give some acknowledgements to my inspirations though. Let’s see.
There is Henry Walters, a teacher at Groton who epitomizes the modern Renaissance man in my opinion. Someone who I pretty much want to model as far as depth and breadth of knowledge in various fields and interests. I find that I have this desire to be interesting, something that I think can only be born out of experience. Mr. Walters is fluent, as much as anyone can be, in both Latin and Ancient Greek, as well as being incredibly well versed in literature of all languages. But what’s most impressive to me was his ability to hold meaningful interactions with anyone. i.e. on a walk across/around Sicily, he stayed with a completely random family for several days for free simply because they enjoyed having conversations with him. That may be my ultimate goal. To have the ability to relate to and empathize with anyone I meet. For despite the unfathomable wonders of “nature” I still believe that human beings are the most subliminal of all mystery. But maybe that’s just because I’m a human being… Oh and Mr. Walters is a trained falconer. As in, he trained a red-tail hawk to hunt for him. That’s one thing that I don’t think I’ll have the time for…but would love to do later in life.
Other people who specifically lead me to my quid non moment include a friend I knew back at William Lawrence Camp. One Luke Defeis. His Facebook photos/status about his year off/recent travels was the immediate catalyst to my decision, though I suppose my first hand experience of someone taking a year off before professional school must be Tim, the Australian chap who was working at the same farm as I was in Sweden. Hmm…I wish I could do that, I had thought to myself. Quid non. Other people who took inspirational trips include my friend Ian, with his travels to Scotland, Iceland, Kurdistan, among other places. And his fervent desire to visit Antarctica. And how he biked across the country alone. Maybe my brother’s distinct lack of travel opportunities (due to some shitty American immigration policies, but more on that some other time perhaps) is making me want to make up for what he can’t do. Perhaps Rory Stewart’s book The Places in Between about how he walked across Taliban Afghanistan has something to do with it. Perhaps the Odyssey. But now I’m stretching it, so I’ll stop. For now. Quid non.
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