It was 1976, and it had been one and half years since I started my MS in Chemistry at George Washington University (GWU). My round trip ticket back to the Philippines would be expiring soon and I needed to use it up. This ticket was supposedly used on my return to the Philippines via a trip to Europe after my training course in Brazil. An unexpected opportunity came up which made me postpone my return home and that trip. A graduate assistantship at George Washington University fell on my lap.
That summer I decided to take an American Express tour of Europe which started in England, followed by a hydrofoil crossing to France, then proceeded to Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Monaco ending with a five day tour of Spain. It was a hectic three week trip labeled by our tour guide as educational when we complained it was stressful rather than relaxing.
I had for a roommate a middle aged blond lady from New York who brought with her countless number of pills and her unhappy self. Luckily I met a lady from Columbia, two teenagers from Mexico and another teenager from the States who I hanged out with during the trip. Most of the people in the tour were from Spanish speaking countries because of the inclusion of Spain in the itinerary.
I remember fondly the favorite phrase of Marcella, one of the teen sisters from Mexico. Every time we finished dinner, she loved to quip, "The night is young" pronouncing the y as a j as most Spanish speaking people pronounce it. Due to her joie de vivre, we hit the discoteques or discoteca as she calls them most of the evenings during our trip. One of my most memorable experience of this tour is dancing the waltz at a discoteque located in a former castle in Bolzano, Italy. We picked up our dates as we passed a café during a stroll after dinner. I paired up with Daniel, a blond German looking guy, who was such a good dancer during the waltz that I looked and also felt like a well trained contestant in Dancing with the Stars. He made me look so good one of the guys wanted to switch with him.
I could go on and on with the other adventures I had but I want to focus on how two persons who happened to be chemists helped me answer two questions I had when I embarked on this trip. I was in my twenties when another important decision came up and had to be made. I needed to decide whether I would go home after my Masters degree at GWU or continue further for my PhD. One of my officemates in the Philippines advised me to stay in the States because it would be hard to go back since the martial law declared by our then president, Ferdinand Marcos, was still in effect.
The decision should have been a no brainer after hearing this advice but I had two questions nagging me.
I actually had been wanting to write about this important point in my life these past weeks for this series. I happened to have attended a one day writing course under the talented, generous hearted author/teacher Ann Cowley. In one of the sessions, she asked us to draw a map of the street or place where the event we wanted to write about took place. I decided in my case to draw the bus I rode during the land tour in Europe to stimulate my memory.
The image of the first of the two persons I mentioned previously easily popped in my memory. He was a typical wasp, traveling alone and barely smiled or talked. Still I gathered the nerve to ask him the question looming over my head. I asked him if I should go on for a PhD since the time involved was long. He was a straight shooter and he answered the question by sharing his own experience. Two or three years before the trip, he was finishing his MS degree and decided instead to end his graduate work with that since he thought it would take more years. He said he regretted this decision since looking back had he decided otherwise he would have been finished with his PhD by the time he was taking this European trip.
I still had another question I wanted answered. It was both philosophical and practical. Is it worth finishing a PhD?
There was another person in the tour that helped me resolve this question. His bespectacled, dark hair and Asian features appeared as I drew the bus and the seats. He always took the first front seat since he was always the last to come back to the bus. He was awkward and at times looked fumbling and absent minded. He was not serious looking at all which made it hard or was it otherwise to believe he has a PhD in chemistry. When I asked him the question, he took the persona of a guru and a seriousness unexpected from the laid back personality he had presented and from him, I got one of the best advices I have heard in my life. He said, "When you take your PhD, do not take it for money or prestige or anything else. You do it for yourself".
With these two questions dismantled like cobwebs in my head, I enjoyed the rest of the European tour with more peace and an excited expectation of that new chapter of my life that would be coming.
Note: This is Part 7 of the series From Longaniza to Hot Dog which recounts my immigration to the United States from the Philippines. You might want to read the following:
From Longaniza to Hot Dog Part 1 Brooklyn and Sao PaoloFrom Longaniza to Hot Dog Part 2 Muito Obrigada and Baden Baden
From Longaniza to Hot Dog Part 3 Life Changing Question
From Longaniza to Hot Dog Part 4 Second Thoughts
From Longaniza to Hot Dog Part 5 Places I Lived At In Washington DC
From Longaniza to Hot Dog Part 6 People and Places
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