Tuesday, August 31, 2004
I arrived in London with high expectations and a lot of anxiety about what to expect about spending 4 months here. I said goodbye to my friends and family at home and cried my eyes out as I packed my bags and took one last look around my room and decided to take my teddy bear at the last moment. This would be the first time I did anything independent for myself and to be perfectly honest, I was scared to death.
When I made the decision to go abroad to London for a semester I decided it would be a test of my strength. I knew that I needed to do this, finally get away from the restraints of home and my dependency on my loved ones. I needed to get away from my x-boyfriend and my unhappiness at my home university. I needed to finally cut the ties and remove the safety net. I needed to get out there and experience something by myself.
I left on August 16 and toured Europe a bit with my family first. We went to Munich, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and finally arrived in London the Saturday before school began. By the time I actually arrived at the dorm to move in I thought I was at least sick of my family enough to get rid of them, however when they were finally walking out the door I found myself hysterical at the idea of being left alone. To make matters worse my new roommate had just arrived and was sitting on her bed witnessing me saying goodbye to me family.
After a nice getting to know you session with my new roomie, Meghan, and hanging around the dorm for the day getting to know some other people on the floor, some orientation staff came around and invited people on the floor down to a pub on the corner to meet people. I decided to walk down and give it a shot. A whole bunch of us were there and we all sat around on these big comfy chairs and played that whole awkward chit chat, getting to know you game. However, I began to find that I had a lot in common with a lot of the people there. Many people had come over with similar intentions as me. I finally began to loosen up and enjoy myself. As I walked back to the dorm that night I felt the tension loosen from my shoulders and as people talked about things they wanted to do and experience that semester I realized that there was so much I could do and experience that semester. I began to finally realize what a precious gift I had been given. I was LIVING in LONDON for four months. I somehow knew then in my gut that this really was going to be the experience of a lifetime and I was going to enjoy it to its full potential.
When I made the decision to go abroad to London for a semester I decided it would be a test of my strength. I knew that I needed to do this, finally get away from the restraints of home and my dependency on my loved ones. I needed to get away from my x-boyfriend and my unhappiness at my home university. I needed to finally cut the ties and remove the safety net. I needed to get out there and experience something by myself.
I left on August 16 and toured Europe a bit with my family first. We went to Munich, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and finally arrived in London the Saturday before school began. By the time I actually arrived at the dorm to move in I thought I was at least sick of my family enough to get rid of them, however when they were finally walking out the door I found myself hysterical at the idea of being left alone. To make matters worse my new roommate had just arrived and was sitting on her bed witnessing me saying goodbye to me family.
After a nice getting to know you session with my new roomie, Meghan, and hanging around the dorm for the day getting to know some other people on the floor, some orientation staff came around and invited people on the floor down to a pub on the corner to meet people. I decided to walk down and give it a shot. A whole bunch of us were there and we all sat around on these big comfy chairs and played that whole awkward chit chat, getting to know you game. However, I began to find that I had a lot in common with a lot of the people there. Many people had come over with similar intentions as me. I finally began to loosen up and enjoy myself. As I walked back to the dorm that night I felt the tension loosen from my shoulders and as people talked about things they wanted to do and experience that semester I realized that there was so much I could do and experience that semester. I began to finally realize what a precious gift I had been given. I was LIVING in LONDON for four months. I somehow knew then in my gut that this really was going to be the experience of a lifetime and I was going to enjoy it to its full potential.
