Seven days from now, I will be stepping onto the curb at Terminal 4 at JFK airport, ready to begin something I've been looking forward to for years. I will be leaving to study abroad with the London program hosted by New York University. I know no one else in the program (though I hope to meet many nice people through NYU in London), or anything about any of my professors, or where to eat or what coins the washing machines will take. I will be on my own. My attraction to London began when my family first vacationed there when I was thirteen. I remember walking back from a restaurant on a London side street during a cool summer evening and announcing to everyone with me that I wanted to live here "when I grew up."
Am I grown up now?
I guess it's not as simple as that. While I did have the idea of study abroad in London in my head, other cities I had dreamed of going to were also bidding for my attention. As someone interested in urban development, Dubai captured my interest as a very modern city, and became my first choice for study abroad. Hong Kong and Tokyo were also places I wanted to study in. For one reason or another, though, each of these did not work out and I could not be happier with my choice to go to London.
When I got my first job as a camp counselor the summer I was sixteen, I decided I should save as much money as I could because someday, when I leave Connecticut, I would find far better things to spend my money on than amusement parks and clothes and movies. I guess at the time I was thinking about a road trip to California with friends after graduation or something of the sort, but nothing ever materialized. Spending these 109 days in London, however, promises to be an exciting adventure. When I talk to other people about my trip, I often get a "You're so lucky!" or "I'd love to go to Europe, but...", followed by an explanation of fear of the unfamiliar, lack of funds, no one to go with, and so on. 'But' nothing. No more excuses. If I want to live in London, I have to do it now, while I have the money, and before I'm tied down with a job and a so-called "real life" after college. For the next four months, I will be chronicling my experience in London, as well as weekend trips to various locations around Europe, in this blog. Granted, many students choose to leave their American colleges and universities to study abroad each semester, and my case is not entirely unique, but the fact that I am hoping that my time in Europe will be the most exciting thing I've ever done must warrant some attention. After waiting for so long to live in another country, I will soon leave my friends and family in the United States to experience something incredible overseas.
Am I grown up now?
I guess it's not as simple as that. While I did have the idea of study abroad in London in my head, other cities I had dreamed of going to were also bidding for my attention. As someone interested in urban development, Dubai captured my interest as a very modern city, and became my first choice for study abroad. Hong Kong and Tokyo were also places I wanted to study in. For one reason or another, though, each of these did not work out and I could not be happier with my choice to go to London.
When I got my first job as a camp counselor the summer I was sixteen, I decided I should save as much money as I could because someday, when I leave Connecticut, I would find far better things to spend my money on than amusement parks and clothes and movies. I guess at the time I was thinking about a road trip to California with friends after graduation or something of the sort, but nothing ever materialized. Spending these 109 days in London, however, promises to be an exciting adventure. When I talk to other people about my trip, I often get a "You're so lucky!" or "I'd love to go to Europe, but...", followed by an explanation of fear of the unfamiliar, lack of funds, no one to go with, and so on. 'But' nothing. No more excuses. If I want to live in London, I have to do it now, while I have the money, and before I'm tied down with a job and a so-called "real life" after college. For the next four months, I will be chronicling my experience in London, as well as weekend trips to various locations around Europe, in this blog. Granted, many students choose to leave their American colleges and universities to study abroad each semester, and my case is not entirely unique, but the fact that I am hoping that my time in Europe will be the most exciting thing I've ever done must warrant some attention. After waiting for so long to live in another country, I will soon leave my friends and family in the United States to experience something incredible overseas.
