Compared
to some, I am probably starting this assignment fairly early. Normally, I would
be one of the students to do all of the summer work the week before school
starts, but this year that's not the case. Yes, part of this assignment has a
June deadline, but that's not the sole reason for starting my work during the
first month of summer break. On July 1st, I will be departing on a trip to
Israel and will not be returning until four weeks later on July 28th. At this
point, you're probably wondering why I'm talking about my award winning
procrastination skills and summer vacation plans instead of the ideas presented
in Chapter One of How To Read Literature Like A Professor, but trust me,
I'm getting there.
In
the book, the first chapter talks about a protagonist's quest throughout a
novel. But do these types of quests only exist in literature? What about in
real life? I think that quests can happen outside of fiction. I mentioned my
Israel trip earlier because I am considering it as a personal journey, or in
the case of this class, a quest. It meets all of the criteria set out by Thomas
C. Foster, so why not? There will be a quester-me (and 139 of my closest
friends), a place to go-Israel, a stated reason to go there-visit and explore
the homeland of my people, challenges and trials en route-the expected drama
that comes with 140 Jewish teenagers, and a real reason to go there-connect
with my Jewish identity. I don't really know if I'm allowed to give myself the
title of protagonist, but for this case I'm just going to say too bad to
whoever says no to me.
While
I have travelled to the Holy Land twice before, I am placing my upcoming trip
in a different category than my past two experiences. My first trip was in June
2009 on a family trip with my synagogue. I was almost twelve years old and the
experience was purely a tourist one. My second trip in April 2011 was on my 8th
grade class graduation trip through my school, Levine Academy. I had a great
time seeing all of the places I had learned about in the classroom, but having
spent the past twelve years with the people I was travelling with, my
anticipation of the following month's graduation was a little high and I didn't
get to cherish some of the experiences as much as I could have.
When
I leave next week, I am going to task myself with discovering my real reason to
go to Israel. I stated before that the real reason is to connect with my Jewish
identity, which is true, but I'm also hoping for something more. I want to go
on a journey to connect with myself. Yes, my Jewish identity is a huge part of
me (as you will learn throughout the next year), but I feel like there is a
whole other side of myself that I haven't tapped into yet. I don't entirely
know what to expect from my trip, but I hope it helps me to open new doors in
my life.
My
quest is just about to begin. I know who I am and where I'm going, but my
reasons to go there are still slightly unclear. But just like Foster wrote, I
hope to find out along the way and altogether have an exciting and eye-opening
experience.