Monday's class came quickly. I'm finding myself still very burned out from my last semester and adding a full time job on top doesn't exactly help. I wasn't sure what to expect for my very first anthropology quiz, but I promise to myself to do much, much better on future ones. Normally, I am very good at remembering things and studying doesn't usually require much time. However, my brain is still so full from my classes that only ended last week, and the way we zip through the lectures doesn't allow me much time to remember. I had one lazy class day, and I won't allow myself any more.
The class had been very exciting, as my instructor Anne went over key terminology. What is the difference between a myth and a legend? This I am already aware of, having just taken a world mythology class. So far, I am finding a lot of repetition between classes. The next wasn't as obvious to most, what is the difference between a maze and a labyrinth? This I knew right away. My interest in labyrinths started a few years ago before I really even knew what a labyrinth was. To be honest, the word just sounds cool. Finding employment at the resort, with it's giant driftwood labyrinth on property, was a great coincidence that has allowed me to start understanding the concept more fully. I still feel that no one will know exactly what a labyrinth is until they walk one themselves. The concept of one single path in and out doesn't seem to iterate into someone's brain until they have experienced it first hand. Anne would continue our lecture by reviewing the differences between a journey, a pilgrimage, and an odyssey, and to relate these terms to our trip abroad.
At first thought, it is obvious that I am on a journey. Everyone attending this trip is on a journey, it just depends on how far that journey really takes them, how far they let it. A pilgrimage is where everyone breaks off, and an odyssey even farther then that. I would like to think I am combining all three into this experience. I know where I am going and the types of things I will see, and that is my journey. I am going with the knowledge that I will find something new, not only within other people but most importantly within myself. For so long, I have had some resentment for the people living around me and their utter lack of self. They seem to have no concept of others, no concept of something else. They throw their garbage around, insult someone for the way they look. I might not believe in a God, but at least I am aware that there is a stronger power to this Earth that in no way can we compare to. I am not sure if I am on a pilgrimage, I feel as though the trip is still too far away to tell. I'd rather not expect something and not find it. But an odyssey, I feel as if that is truly the purpose of this experience. However, it will not end once I am home from Greece. An odyssey is a lifelong event, something I will continuously take part in, as I do not yet know where my true home is. I know where I sleep and where I keep my stuff and the place that I want to return to after being away from. I know where I feel safe and where I like to relax and spend my down time. But since I was 16 I have moved about five different times (perhaps more I have lost count) and so my home is in constant change. I have never been away from this island, or this country for that matter, long enough to know if my home is a country, a house, or perhaps just a state of mind.
In this journal, I was asked to reflect upon change. It has been in the back of my mind while writing this entire time and still, I cannot describe it. I cannot see myself changing, I can only see the change after it has happened. Have I changed in my lifetime? Certainly. Is change always good? Depends on how you look at it. Who I was in high school is significantly different then who I am today. I do miss that person, for she was able to find a way out of the stress, become an individual, and be care free. But within being care free, she forgot to care. About herself, about the things around her. And while I miss being care free, I am happy now that I care. I believe that there is a good side and a bad side to everything. Whether it is in relation to change, or perhaps the recent death of Osama Bin Laden. While many celebrate, many are also in remorse. But the one undeniable fact is that everything DOES change and will continue to change, and so we might as well accept it, for the good and for the bad. Otherwise, we are stuck living in the past. Once home from Greece, I will reminisce in the memories of the trip, I will accept the knowledge and accept the fact that I am now, hopefully, home.
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