For most university students in the United States, it takes four - or possibly five - years to get their diploma.
It took me twelve.¹
To be fair, it's not as if I spent all that time studying. I didn't fail any classes,² changed my major only once, and generally got good grades while I was studying. But all that being said, it took me until yesterday - Friday - to obtain a copy of my diploma, nearly twelve years after beginning my undergraduate program.
To be fair, it's not as if I spent all that time studying. I didn't fail any classes,² changed my major only once, and generally got good grades while I was studying. But all that being said, it took me until yesterday - Friday - to obtain a copy of my diploma, nearly twelve years after beginning my undergraduate program.
There's a long story behind why it took me that long. There always is. I won't bore you with mine here.³
The real story - the one that matters in the here and now - is that I needed a copy of my diploma in order to be officially, finally, formally accepted into a study program in Riga this fall. Which I needed in order to get a student visa. Which I needed in order to be able to return to Riga. Which I needed to do because, well, that's where I'm supposed to be. Or something like that.
I had originally been told that I had until September fifteenth to provide a copy of my diploma. No problem. I was told it could take up to thirty days for my university to process and issue my official diploma, and I had submitted my request in late July, so I wasn't even worried about it. There have been more than enough other things going on to occupy my mind in the past six weeks or so; worrying about when my diploma would arrive took a back seat to more urgent matters.
Until this week.
After submitting my application for a residence permit last Friday, I re-read the study contract from the university that I had signed and submitted. I happened to notice that they had changed - without informing me - the deadline for submitting a copy of my diploma from September fifteenth to August thirty-first.
Huh.
I called my university to ask where my diploma was. "It's at the printers; it should be back sometime soon." Soon, eh? Great. As in, Friday soon? My-entire-application-falls-apart-if-this-doesn't-show-up-now soon?
There's been enough drama and last-second decisions in this process that I've grown strangely comfortable with uncertainty. I've seen things fall apart at the last second, and also seen things come together beautifully just in the nick of time. I've come to realize that there is a certain burden of personal responsibility - I can't ever expect destiny to drag me along - but at the end of the day, there is only so much I can do. I can't enable the impossible, but I can be ready in case it happens.
So, I did what I could. I made some calls, sent some emails, and hoped and prayed that it would turn up in time. I tried to find the balance between trusting that God could indeed make this happen and the possibility that it might not come together.
As it turned out, everything worked out. My diploma turned up in time, and I managed to forward a scanned copy of it to the university in Riga on Friday.
Just in time.
There's still plenty of things that could go wrong. I'm still waiting for the results of my residence permit application,⁴ and there's always the chance that the whole thing could fall completely apart at the last second. That eventuality seems unlikely, seeing as how far along I've come, and how much God has done, in order to keep this whole process alive. I hope, pray, and plead for a swift return. But until I'm actually back home in Riga, I have no certainty about how this situation will resolve itself.
Twelve years ago, I started my undergraduate studies. I thought it would take four years - maybe less! - to finish. Obviously, that didn't happen. The road to a bachelors degree had a few more roadblocks and detours than I could have possibly anticipated. And yet, in the end, it happened. Not in my envisioned timeframe, to be sure... but it happened nonetheless. And the pain and frustration in that journey ended up being a source of deep growth and maturation
My path to Latvia has had its share of detours and delays. This is just another chapter in that story. The journey is often as integral as the destination, and because of that I'm trying to use this time in England as best as I can, seeking to understand how and why the Lord has chosen to engineer this process in the way he has.
I had originally been told that I had until September fifteenth to provide a copy of my diploma. No problem. I was told it could take up to thirty days for my university to process and issue my official diploma, and I had submitted my request in late July, so I wasn't even worried about it. There have been more than enough other things going on to occupy my mind in the past six weeks or so; worrying about when my diploma would arrive took a back seat to more urgent matters.
Until this week.
After submitting my application for a residence permit last Friday, I re-read the study contract from the university that I had signed and submitted. I happened to notice that they had changed - without informing me - the deadline for submitting a copy of my diploma from September fifteenth to August thirty-first.
Huh.
I called my university to ask where my diploma was. "It's at the printers; it should be back sometime soon." Soon, eh? Great. As in, Friday soon? My-entire-application-falls-apart-if-this-doesn't-show-up-now soon?
There's been enough drama and last-second decisions in this process that I've grown strangely comfortable with uncertainty. I've seen things fall apart at the last second, and also seen things come together beautifully just in the nick of time. I've come to realize that there is a certain burden of personal responsibility - I can't ever expect destiny to drag me along - but at the end of the day, there is only so much I can do. I can't enable the impossible, but I can be ready in case it happens.
So, I did what I could. I made some calls, sent some emails, and hoped and prayed that it would turn up in time. I tried to find the balance between trusting that God could indeed make this happen and the possibility that it might not come together.
As it turned out, everything worked out. My diploma turned up in time, and I managed to forward a scanned copy of it to the university in Riga on Friday.
Just in time.
There's still plenty of things that could go wrong. I'm still waiting for the results of my residence permit application,⁴ and there's always the chance that the whole thing could fall completely apart at the last second. That eventuality seems unlikely, seeing as how far along I've come, and how much God has done, in order to keep this whole process alive. I hope, pray, and plead for a swift return. But until I'm actually back home in Riga, I have no certainty about how this situation will resolve itself.
Twelve years ago, I started my undergraduate studies. I thought it would take four years - maybe less! - to finish. Obviously, that didn't happen. The road to a bachelors degree had a few more roadblocks and detours than I could have possibly anticipated. And yet, in the end, it happened. Not in my envisioned timeframe, to be sure... but it happened nonetheless. And the pain and frustration in that journey ended up being a source of deep growth and maturation
My path to Latvia has had its share of detours and delays. This is just another chapter in that story. The journey is often as integral as the destination, and because of that I'm trying to use this time in England as best as I can, seeking to understand how and why the Lord has chosen to engineer this process in the way he has.
¹This is as good a place as any to insert the quote from Tommy Boy that I know you're already thinking of:
Tommy: "You know, a lot of people go to college for seven years."
Richard: "I know, they're called doctors."
Tommy: "You know, a lot of people go to college for seven years."
Richard: "I know, they're called doctors."
²With one exception: I got an F in "Broadcast Clinic" class, which I failed it because I never realized I was enrolled in it, and thus did nothing . Oops.
³It involves a radio station being sold, driving to Alaska, learning to surf, and thirty dollars, in roughly that order.
⁴Only thirteen days left - possibly less! - until I receive a decision on my application.