Maybe I’m overly influenced by my own choices, but I can’t imagine a better way to prepare myself for the future than through education. While I’m drawn to the values of traditional academic institutions like the University of Cambridge, I’m not only referring to this type of education. Opportunities to study at institutions like these are few and far between, and are mostly offered to students who have had the chance to distinguish themselves in the past. Furthermore, significant financial resources are needed to take advantage of these opportunities. I’ll begin studying at one of these universities in the fall, but most of my more valuable educational experiences have, in the past, taken place outside of a traditional classroom.

I’m an expert on the botany of good and evil,

I’m still studying it, I’ll go on studying till the day I die.

I stood near the school building and looked in. This is the room

where we sat and learned. The windows of a classroom always open

to the future, but in our innocence we thought it was only landscape

we were seeing from the window.

excerpt from The School Where I Studied by Yehuda Amichai, translated by Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld

Because I’ve spent my undergraduate career at a technical, career-focused institution, I’ve learned the most during the time I spent off campus. I studied and conducted field research abroad, and worked in a variety of internships to learn how to function in a professional environment. I’ve also spent a lot of time with my head in books—not textbooks, but novels and collections of poetry. Even traveling with no particular goal in mind has taught me a lot about being a better, more well-rounded human being. I say, take advantage of any opportunity to learn, and confidently face the future armed with the collective knowledge and experience of the past.

This post is a response to the weekly WordPress Photo Challenge: future. I’m also sharing poetry that I love throughout the month of April in celebration of National Poetry Month.