Quests: Not Just for Literature?

            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.