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Showing posts with label pre-departure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pre-departure. Show all posts

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Well, today is the day.

This is it. Today, at 7:40 EST, I will be (hopefully, provided Logan doesn't suck) flying out of Boston and out over the Atlantic Ocean, to land in Heathrow International Airport at roughly 2 a.m. our time. I'm taking the group flight, although I have no idea who's on it. I'm hoping I'll recognize some other BU students/people who look my age and are traveling with an unnecessary amount of luggage. I also have a cold, which is just, well, awesome.


I have to say, I'm anxious to get there because my roommate is there already, Fallon's there already, and seeing their pictures on Facebook makes me just want to be there with them. Fallon and her friends are the only people I know in that entire country, so I want to be with them ASAP. I'll probably go harass Fallon when I finally get a chance to relax tomorrow (SO MANY THINGS TO DO.)


I'm not as anxious as I thought I would be today, probably because I already did all the good-byes and all the crying. Good lord, the crying. Leaving my sorority sisters on Monday was like being at a funeral. Although it was very touching, and it meant a lot to me. So, so much. I can't wait to come back and see those lovely ladies again :) Although having Fallon there will definitely help on those lonely days where I just miss BU and the BU Bands and TBS and I hide in my sweatshirt. Well, we'll see, I suppose.


The news is telling me I'm leaving on the same day as the very first EEE case. Wasn't that old news in 2005? Well anyway.


I've had "The I Love You Song" from 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in my head since Monday.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Nine Days, and I have nothing to show for it.

Unlike Fallon, I have nine days left to prepare, and absolutely no plan whatsoever. I have a bin in the center of my room filled with winter clothes that I have yet to sift through, a missing towel, a laundry bin FILLED with laundry, and I'm going to Tanglewood for the weekend for leadership camp. I'm pretty sure at this point I'm begging to be in tears and clinging to my friends and my band safety-net come Monday, when everyone I know goes back to Tanglewood and I trudge home alone, minus the TV in my room and the box in my basement. Even my chair will be gone!


Truthfully, I am absolutely terrified of going. I keep telling myself that hey, I navigated Italy for Chrissakes, I can navigate a country that speaks the same language as me.


Me, navigating Italy successfully


But when I went to Italy, I had people I knew with me. This whole being alone thing is very, very new. New but, I feel, necessary. If I want to grow up, I have to do things like this; go places I don't know with people I don't know and carve out a little space for me. London wasn't my first choice for study abroad (I would have killed to go to Italy; one day, maybe) but being unable to speak any other languages, it was kind of my only option.


Well, I'm going now, I can't do much to change it. Not that I would, because I reeeeeeeeally want to go. I adapt much better to new situations than I normally perceive myself to be able to do, so I don't know why I psyche myself out like this: I guess because it's a lot easier to do. I'm apprehensive because of my lack of money, but I'm not alone in that; lack of people I know, but I've already made a couple new friends; lack of preparation, but who's ever prepared to leave everything they've been influenced by since birth to be in a place completely different?


I don't expect to come back being a completely different person with, say, new life goals or anything. I just hope to come back with a little bit more than I left with, and maybe more of an idea for what I want to do with the rest of my life.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Look, I made a blog!

SO. This is my attempt at blogging while abroad. I regret not journaling when I went to Italy for 10 days, so here's hoping I actually use this blog. This isn't just for me to talk to others about what I'm doing, it's also for me to remember my own thoughts and actions. I'm also bringing a paper journal with me, although who knows how often I'll use that. Hopefully I will but, no promises.

Basically, in less than two weeks, I'll be boarding a plane to London, England, to live there for four months and study history. I'm scared, excited and apprehensive. I can't waaaaaaiiiiiiiiiit. I've wanted to study abroad since I first found out that was a thing that people could do. And now I'm finally going to do it. In the middle of an economic crisis both here and there. Adventures await! I hope.