Wanderlust: Moving to Baltimore

Not all those who wander are lost.  -J.R.R. Tolkien

I enjoy learning about people and the world through new adventures.  I believe that you can never truly learn who you are without stepping out of your comfort zone and taking a risk or two.  After seven years in Nashville, I felt like I was perpetually wading through a river of molasses.  I felt stuck.  Somewhere between year five and year six, I developed this incredible urge to leave Nashville and explore someplace new.  I also knew I needed to definitively choose a career path.  So I decided to use my indecisiveness about a career and apply to graduate programs in education and biomedical science.  It wasn't an easy choice.

I wound up in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins studying educational leadership.  I figured I'd ride the wave of education out while I was doing well, and, I mean, it's Hopkins.  So, over the summer, I packed up up everything that would fit in my car, sold the rest, and drove the 700+ miles to Baltimore.  I've spent the last couple of months trying to find my way here, and it's been an interesting experience.  There's so much history and culture here, and too many Baltimore natives are oblivious to what the city has to offer.  People here live in two separate worlds: the Haves and the Have Nots.  This dynamic is evident in the residential boundaries within the city, the school system, and the political climate.  Of course, this is the same dynamic that is present in every city where poverty and crime create a sense of hopelessness among one group and not the other.  As a teacher in an inner city school here, I see both sides of this dynamic on a daily basis.

Life in Baltimore is extremely fast-paced, but it's almost comical how urgency and complacency coexist.  There's an incessant, everyday buzz, but people aren't really moving forward or backward.  Everyone seems to always be in survival mode.  I can't say how long I'll stay here after I finish my program, but I know this definitely won't be home for me.  I am, however, excited to see what else Baltimore has to offer.

I do LOVE how close I am to D.C., and I've probably spent more weekends there than I have spent in Baltimore!