The entire world in the middle of nowhere

I used to be afraid of North Central Wisconsin. Hunting, beer... football... We had been planning on Chicago. Music...art...culture... My imagination hadn't included a smaller city as an option. But its definitely growing on me. Of course, with a year under my belt and a growing community of friends I'm feeling more optimistic.

One thing I'm loving about Wisconsin is the people I meet at my day job (I teach music lessons- by night). As a program assistant with the International Student Office I spend my days supporting students from all over the globe. This week orientation began at UW-Stevens Point. The international students converged from 16 countries. I got to each lunch today with German, Vietnamese, Japanese and Canadian students (and that was just a my table). My favorite part was when a German student was complaining about how much English sounded like a hammer. He said German is more poetic.

Old friends from this year are coming back with tales of the their summers. Some of these stories are exciting (travels with family, being at the Olympic opening ceremonies and getting home at 3 a.m., job offers with theater companies in the U.S.), and others will be fearful (stories of sudden war in Georgia, earthquake recovery). When I moved back from China I never thought that I would remain in this cosmopolitan of a setting, but here I am. Suddenly, the entire world is in the middle of nowhere.