Meathead Academics, or, How I Ended Up a 30 Year Old College Freshman

Hey there! Sorry for the lapse in time between posts. Since last I posted there have been a major, life-consuming change in my life: I started college. For the first time ever. I’m a 30 year old college freshman.

I never thought I wanted to go to college. I’ve spent my entire adult life gallivanting around the world, eating foods in faraway places and doing push ups on faraway floors, but something changed earlier this year. Before going to Russia in January, I took on a solo fitness challenge to see what kind of shape I could get in before I left. From September to January I worked out 6 days a week. Gave up my daily candy meal (1 pack of nerds, every day between lunch and dinner), did Pilates and interval training, and by the time my plane left JFK I was in the best shape of my life. I went from a size 5 to a size 1 without losing a pound.

There were some really intense workouts during those months. Interval trainings where I would collapse mid-burpee, arms shaking, shoulders unable to keep me up any longer. I would get so frustrated by my own weakness that I would cry, feel pitiful, and want to stop. But I didn’t. I pushed through, embarrassing tears a’streaming, until the workout was over. And at the end, I was transformed.

(July '11 after a swim- size 5, 114 pounds , January '12 in Sweden after a workout- size 1, 114 pounds)

In March, while riding a train from one small town Russian to the next, something suddenly hit me: the stimulation of traveling was no longer enough for me anymore. I was bored. Sure I always had books with me in my travels, but the ideas were just between me and the pages. I craved conversation about them. I wanted to be around people who shared my intellectual curiosity. I felt like I’d hit the cap as far as self-education went, and there on the train, I felt my mind settling into a place I knew it would not be able to move beyond without help. It was time to stop taking my body to new places, and take my mind instead. I decided it was time for college.