Monday, November 9, 2015

exude

[ig-zood]

verb (used with object), exuded, exuding.

1. to project or display conspicuously or abundantly; radiate: to exude cheerfulness.

As I walk to job #1/3 (HOCC) I notice the leaves around me are changing to vibrant shades of red, orange and yellow, the air is crisp and fresh, Alt-J’s Interlude 1 plays melodically through my headphones, the sun is smiling down upon my little neighborhood in Iowa City and a smile I’ve been keeping within me for hours if not days finally bursts out of me. Life is pretty damn good. The date is Friday, November 6 and I, Cora Marie Bern-Klug have crossed 2 huge things off my to-do list.

1. Enroll in a university
2. Buy my plane tickets to Ecuador

Check and check!

I got my visa in late September, this document allows me to stay in the country for more than 90 days. [INSIDER TIP: If you need a visa I highly HIGHLY recommend going to the consulate of the country you are going to and getting the visa there instead of going through the back and forth of doing it online and through the mail. I worked 1 on 1 with a kind and patient Ecuadorian woman who basically did all the work for me and in 2 hours I walked out of the Ecuadorian consulate of Chicago with visa in hand.] With my visa I am permitted by the Ecuadorian government to be in their fabulous country from February 5 to June 16. A total of 4 months and 11 days. With that in mind I purchased my plane tickets to and from South America. I fly in to Quito, Ecuador on February 5 and arrive at 10:38 pm. I depart from Lima, Peru on June 6 at 8:12 am. So now the last piece of the puzzle is when and how I’ll get to Lima. Stay tuned!

So not only am I officially going to Ecuador and Peru – I’m also officially going to the one, the only University of Iowa (not to be confused with Iowa State University or the University of Idaho or Ohio University). Yes, I will follow the footsteps/talonsteps (?) of Mercedes Eva Lillian Bern-Klug and be an Iowa Hawkeye. This decision may surprise some of you, my mom was definitely taken aback. Since freshman year I’ve sworn I’d never ever EVER go to Iowa. “I want to get out of here and adventure, try something new!”…well younger me…you can either pay $50,000 a year to go to an out-of-state school and get out of Iowa City or pay virtually nothing, get out college almost debt free, and study abroad! It was an obvious choice once I really thought about what I wanted in a school: somewhere where I can get a great education, be debt free (or almost debt free) after college, study abroad, live in a vibrant city and be somewhere I know I belong and can call home.

After getting all this done in just a few hours I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and pride. I was exuding happiness. The smiling could not be stopped (I lowkey probably looked real creepy). When I’m over joyed I get this feeling – it’s like something is building up inside me, I can’t breathe – I just smile and smile and smile some more. And after being in the daunting “college search” for over a year and a half I think I deserve to let loose and smile a bit.