In case it wasn’t clear from my last post, COVID-19 has given me a lot of time to think recently. I’ve had a lot of time in general this month, so much so that I’m apparently turning back into the night owl from some of my early college days because my most intense thinking seems to take place in the evening. This is also when the most impulsive decision making happens.
Fun fact: I discovered HOOP, the unforgettable Peruvian nonprofit I would volunteer with immediately after graduation, one night my sophomore year in the basement of my university library at 1 AM when I should have been working on an essay for class that was due the next day. That being said, there have also been evenings where I’ve ended up boob-deep in Internet Incognito mode wondering if maybe all my existential problems could be solved by becoming a stripper, but that usually doesn’t happen until around 3 AM, so I’m pretty confident I won’t wake up horrified with myself tomorrow.
So, what impulsive decision did I make last night?
Well. It all started two days ago after a call with a friend led me to register myself for the terrifyingly named “Big Data in Education” course. I waded into it and something unusual happened during the welcome video and subsequent recommended readings: I realized I was actually paying attention.
I’ve never not been a fine-to-good student, but I’ve also never been the most motivated kid in the class, particularly where words like “data” are involved.
I spaced out easily in school, easily distracted by the beauty of a plain spiral notebook page in front of me, and found it difficult to follow directions well even if they were written on the board for half an hour before they got erased. Perhaps worst of all, if I thought I could get away with reading half the assignment or not studying but still passing, I tended to listen to the little devil on my shoulder.
This isn’t a post about how beneficial I believe it would have been for me to plan and then take a gap year before college, but it is about me realizing that while I might not have recognized the signs that I wasn’t quite ready to start school, I am certainly feeling that I could be ready to go back. This isn’t something I was expecting to feel amidst the omnipresence of the virus, yet here we are.
That being said, a lot of things are in the works (read: unclear) regarding the future right now.
Currently, a lot of them center around the possibility of my teaching in France for the upcoming school year. While that decision is still pending by the powers that be, I’ve decided that there can’t be any harm in leaning into opportunities I have to educate myself within the field of education (and beyond) in the interim that stretches before me now.
Thanks to the wide array of courses that have been either been made free due to COVID-19 or extra-publicized its wake, as of 1 AM tonight, my new curriculum spans digital marketing, learning initiatives in education, beginning Italian, and more.
Here’s to spontaneity, making the best of odd times, and surprising opportunities for fresh starts. For those interested in looking into online courses available now too, I’m enrolled through courses listed on edX and Udemy. You can also find lists of free courses courtesy of external sources here and here.
