So I think it's fair to say that despite me still being on the younger side of being an adult, I am no spring chicken anymore. I feel old even using that phrase. I'd like to think that at this point I am able to set goals and create a plan to reach those goals. You know, like an adult. However, I seem to spend a solid amount of time setting personal goals that, are admirable, but aren't necessarily SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound). I then flounder about trying to achieve them through weird trial and error, but mostly error, and then quit.

After two and a half years, I am nearing the end of my Interpreter Training Program. It has always felt worth it, but it hasn't always been easy. Between limited full days off, having limited time with my boyfriend who became my husband, and trying to find time for the sheer amount of homework, getting to the next semester was what kept me, and others in my cohort going. Without having to explicitly say it, we all had a SMART goal of becoming an interpreter. Now that we are nearing the end of the program there is so much more to think about than what is happening next semester.

I won't bore you with the details, but it boils down to finishing our last semester while also preparing to take the first of two national tests, getting all of our professional memberships and clearances lined up, slowly amassing an appropriate wardrobe, plus a litany of other adult things that will prepare us to be freelance interpreters. It's exciting and a little scary, in a good way, and fairly surreal. I am so amazingly ready to do this. And by that I mean that I am fully aware of just how unprepared I am. But I am supremely looking forward to continuing to learn and getting out in the community to foster open and effective communication. But first, let me get trough the next semester.