and we're off, again
So much of TIC has changed this year. The social aspect of the class never seemed to really take off like it did in previous years, and as a result we saw the end of so many TIC traditions, including the much-looked-forward-to party on the final day of class.
Trev, we missed you ): I never realized how hard it is to boot the students outside and force them to have fun playing team sports.
It’s strange. Every year I wait for these six weeks of summer, but now that they’re over I feel like I’m waking from unconsciousness. It might be because I missed the first days of ATDP, then spent the next weeks desperately missing my conference friends from around the world. It might have something to do with the fact that this year I came back to TIC as a TA, not a visiting alumni.
That part I don’t regret though. Except the many times I failed to be of any help to my students.
But most likely we are the ones changing. Every summer we come back, but during the time that passes in between, we grow and we change. This is a fact of life.
In less than 6 hours I will be leaving for the airport again - in fact, I will be flying back to the very same airport where I was picked up at the beginning of the summer for the conference. I still can’t believe TIC is over. I know that very soon I will be sitting on an airplane, imagining the end-of-ATDP party at Satin Roses and pining, but it still doesn’t feel real. Like I’m dreaming.
I’m sorry that I ran to catch the train when I heard it coming in the BART station today. I’m sorry that I didn’t stay to say goodbye and cry then rather than later over how much I will miss you. More than that, I’m sorry that I didn’t get a chance to tell you how glad I am that I get to see you every summer and be able to know that, whatever happens during the other three seasons of the year, we are still connected by a classroom without walls.