Growing up, I was a bit of a Dr. Seuss fan. The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas; you name it, they were on my bookshelf. While visiting family in the Netherlands two weekends ago, I was reminded of my childhood obsession while watching my three and one year old cousins page through their favorite books. One book that caught my eye sitting on their bookshelf was none other then Seuss’s Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
I was in full-on “throwback thursday” mode as I was reading through the children’s book, overcome with kindergarten story time memories and nostalgic for what seemed to be a simpler time. But there was something timeless about the words, a message that quickly put to a halt my 1990s trip down memory lane and brought me back to the “2014-Elisha-Kim-Desmangles-on-exchange-in-Geneva.”
“Congratulations!Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places!You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.You have feet in your shoes.You can steer yourself any direction you choose.You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”
I have always believed that life wasn’t about finding yourself, but rather creating yourself. But it wasn’t until I came to Geneva that I actually started putting that into the perspective of my own life. It is such a humbling experience for an international relations student like me to live and study in a European center of foreign affairs. Seeing students my age intern at the United Nations and NGOs here, creating themselves and their futures, steering themselves in directions they want to be in, seeing them go places: that’s motivation to the max.
But as with everything in life, nothing is easy. In the words of Seuss, “I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that bang-ups and hang-ups can happen to you. You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on. You’ll be left in a Lurch.” As I find myself looking for summer internships, there is nothing truer than that. Applying and interviewing seem to be on a never-ending cycle of “rinse and repeat”, which has left me on a “Lurch” of sorts, making it hard to even think that I’ll be able to go places. We sometimes may feel like we’re in a “Waiting Place,” like Seuss describes in the book. “Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come…or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.”
But he also reminds us not to stay in the Waiting Place, that we’ll “escape all that waiting and staying.” The book concludes, “And you will succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)”
You don’t have to come to Switzerland on exchange to realize that this is your life and it’s up to you to make it what you want it to be. There are places to go, and you’ll get there. “Today is your day! You mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!”
Quotes obtained from Dr. Seuss’ Oh! the Places You’ll Go!
Photos obtained from: http://www.mypartymuse.com/oh-the-places-youll-go/http://weddingplannern…