oh, the people you meet!

i consider myself a pretty lucky woman. (i think i'm allowed to call myself a "woman" rather than a "girl" at this point, right? i'm definitely old enough.) harvey mudd college has not been the easiest of paths i could have taken, but in the past four years here, i've really gotten to find out all the great opportunities that were thrown at me. i won't go into detail of everything, but i'll fill you in on what happened spring 2007: i got a chance to study abroad in wellington, new zealand. those short five months changed my life. that fall, i came back to mudd raving about my experiences. and then i got to thinking...

the way study abroad works at mudd is a little peculiar. you pay the normal tuition, room and board, and any student fees to harvey mudd college during your absence. mudd then takes that money, pays your study abroad program, and gives you an allowance for air transportation to and from your destination. if you do not use the program's room and board option, mudd also factors in an allowance so you can survive somewhere else. sometimes, your program costs less than mudd. sometimes, much more. but the cool thing is, if you were to get any financial help from mudd (which is about 80% of the mudd population), the aid still applies to your program. 

i'd been receiving help from the mudd family, most notably, from ms. elise mudd marvin. when i got back that fall, i randomly ran into pat who works in the scholarships department and thanked her and asked her to thank my donor for the opportunity to go abroad. words spread and the next day, i was informed that i could actually thank ms. marvin in person. luck would have it that the office of development were visiting her the very next day and my proctor training schedule was empty that morning. she was very sick and could barely prop herself up, but i got a chance to tell this woman how a stranger has changed my life. i spoke mostly to her daughter since ms. marvin had no energy to speak, but after the conversation, i felt even luckier. i will never forget the words that her daughter said to me, because they made me feel very alive and damn proud of who i turned out to be.

anyway, enough of that story. flash forward to this semester. i am taking two media studies classes at pitzer college from the same professor. she's an academy award winning documentary filmmaker (re: broken rainbow) and just an all-around fascinating person. yesterday, we sat and had a chat after class. i had asked her to help me with my senior thesis (i'm trying to work on a documentary), so i wanted her to critique where my project works and where it doesn't. the conversation moved from my project to my life and my plans for after graduation. i am embarking on a four-month trip with my best friend around japan, vietnam, thailand, new zealand, and fiji, and i told her that i got hooked on traveling after studying overseas. i can't keep to one place, and i find any means possible to fund my travels, including recently selling my car and possibly more of my possessions in the near future. she got to hear of all the instances where i just decide to take a few days off and fly to visit friends, and it was really great that she was so understand. and then, out of curiosity, i asked her if she was at all related to the harvey mudd whom my school is named after (i call her professor mudd, if you couldn't already tell).

and yes, she is. she's actually his granddaughter. i know it's not that coincidental that i'm going to the claremont colleges and taking classes from a professor who's closely affiliated with the colleges. the crazy part is, part of my scholarship last year actually came out of a fund she and her siblings help set up in honor of their mother, and i had written this woman a "thank you" note before (i didn't realize this until she pointed it out)! i think it's great that the same woman who's making it possible for me to complete my education is the woman whom i admire for her work. needless to say, the conversation lasted much longer than planned, and i left feeling really, really wonderful.

who would have thunk? the first two years here consisted of me cursing the place and wanting to leave as soon as possible. i stuck it out (not too happily at first), and now, i've gotten to say "thank you" to the key players who've made a difference in my life and letting them know that they've done so. i'm not the smartest person you'll meet, but i'm really happy with the education i've gotten here. i didn't retain much from any of my math and science courses, but i think i fulfilled the last part of the hmc mission statement: i've definitely developed as a leader, and i can judge the impact of my actions on society.