So, now that the last week of classes not just for me but for everyone is finally upon us, I have the time to finally breath and relax. I’ll get about a month off before I descend into the final semester of my college life, and then after that? Well, we’ll see. Either way, the largest project I’ve completed in my schooling life, and my favorite one is finally finished. I’m extremely happy with the final product no matter what happens. I know I was able to pour out all the love I have for the city of Kyoto into one project, and it really feels like this is a ‘magnum opus’ for me, even though I’m still in school for another semester. It would have been more poetic if I finished the COGS alongside the rest of my graduate work in the spring, but I’m certainly not going to be complaining that it’s done now, for the pure fact that after I finished this, I think I can finish any project.
The week consisted of nothing but some edits to the text itself, cutting out a few bloated lines and cleaning up the rest of my typos. It was surprisingly easy, and when I found myself finally finished I had the time to reflect on just how close to being done school I really am. I’m really only four classes away from being done, and while I wouldn’t like to HAVE to do a class in the first summer semester, I expect it to be relatively easy if time consuming. After that? Well, I’ll hope for my application to the JET program to come to fruition, however, even if it doesn’t I have a few plans to fall back on once school is done. I plan on applying to be in the adjunct pool, I have my job at the National Constitution Center, which I’m hoping comes to fruition with a full time job at some point, I have my foot in the door in multiple places and know this will be okay.
And beyond my professors and peers, I have the city of Kyoto to thank for this incredible moment. I won’t forget those first few moments walking through the city by myself. I had never been one to admire scenery and really appreciate how a city is built. However, that was not the case in Kyoto. They say the city is the most holy in Japan, in history it was the city of Buddhism and culture, it’s the city where The Tale of Genji and The Pillow Book were written, where Oda Nobunaga became master of Japan, where Minamoto no Yoshitsune marched, where Raikou set out to fight Shuten Douji. So many of the great people and moments I studied in history took place in this one city, and they’re what inspired me to not only do this project, but also be a historian.
So, as I finish up my ‘Magnum Opus’, all I have to say, is thank you Kyoto.
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