This spring break, I could have seen New York, I could have picked up an internship, I could have stayed home and saved my quickly dwindling funds from hemorrhaging even further.
There was a reason I picked this trip. Guess which one:
1) To advance the noble journalism profession.
2) To enhance my portfolio with international coverage.
3) To meet a challenge to my journalistic abilities and to rise above them.
4) My violin.
Yes yes, I'll say all of the above, but it's that number 4 that sold me.
Let me explain. Four years ago I lived in Nottingham, which is about two hours north of London, for about eight months. I planned to go to university there in 2007, and I even went so far as to move half my belongings - including my violin - to my good friend's room in a Nottingham suburb.
Then my university funding fell through, and my bank account couldn't afford to free up enough cash for another trip to England anytime soon. I could have my friend just ship the stuff home, but it would have cost just about the same as a plane ticket. He agreed to hang on to it for me until the next time I found myself in Old Blighty.
It took me a year and a half to return.
I missed my violin like crazy at moments, in that way that only happens when something you take for granted is all of a sudden missing. You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone, Joni Mitchell reminds us, and now that my good friend has dragged all of my belongings from Nottingham to London on a coach ride, I know what I've got, and I am extremely grateful.
Tomorrow I just might break it out and busk. I could do it as a fundraiser for the journalism department at SJSU. Or it could be a fundraiser to save the starving students of the world, aka me. Either way, carpe diem.
Suzanne Yada
Managing Editor
Managing Editor
Magazine Journalism
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