Year One Reflections: July 2010

I've made it through my first year of doctoral studies in Higher Education at Azusa Pacific University and have returned home after my third two-week intensive session in California.  It's been an incredible year - I've learned so much about what it is to be a doctoral student, but I've also learned much about myself. 

1. Scholar. It's like the faculty said at the retreat...scholarship is a journey, and I'm on the road to being a scholar. I am thinking more critically of my professional life and about the literature I'm reading.  Fascinating to see how I've become more intentional about what I'm learning.  And there is so much to learn.
2. Integration.  We often talk about finding balance in our lives - about separating family, work, personal time, church time, devotional life, etc.  I'm thinking more about life as an integrated whole - and being in the moment that I currently am in.  Hopefully this allows me to bring all the facets of who I am in to the moment.
3. Strengths.  One of the first steps of the program at APU was to complete the StrengthsFinder assessment.  Fascinating to have a look at who I am from a positive light...after 40+ years!  My top five strengths are Connectedness, Arranger, Input, Learner, and Restorative.  They don't define me but definitely help me understand my "default" ways of being.

So, why put this on a blog?  A bunch of reasons - I want to have a record of my journey, it's a good place to strengthen my writing, I needed a reason to experience this side of social media, and I needed a place to post my thoughts for a course on Diversity and Social Justice (which have been posted to another blog). 

And the title...well, my parents are immigrants from the Netherlands.  Both immigrated in their youth as part of the post-WWII immigration to Canada (Mom at age 9 with her family, Dad at 17 on his own - joining siblings already in Canada).  Together they established a home, family, and business in a new land.  Largely, they left their home land and traditions behind - opting to integrate into Canadian society, leaving language and culture behind.  Yet we were deeply plugged into our ethnic community through church and the parent-run Christian schools our family attended.  So maybe it was less integration and more like blending...hmmmm

At any rate, to quote my undergrad history prof, to know where you're going, you need to know where you've been.  So, strap on the klompen*, grab a Timmies*, and join me on this journey.

*a glossary of terms will follow