Hello everyone!
Tomorrow is the big day. I can’t believe it’s already here – I have been talking about going to Wales for months and months. And I have been looking forward to studying abroad for ages, thanks to my grandmother who always told me: “You need to study abroad in England during the second semester of your junior year and then backpack across Europe during the summer.” Little did I actually expect for this to happen down to the exact semester she prescribed. The only difference is that I will be returning home in June, after my 5-week exam period ends. 5 weeks for exams (no way I could study that much) and 3 weeks for Easter break means only one thing: LOTS OF TRAVEL. By the time these next 5 months are up, I hope to have visited an enormous list of places and people.
As most of you readers already know, both of my sisters are going to be in Europe at the same time as me. I still can hardly believe that we managed to work this out. Martha is in Germany until June and Charlotte will be in Italy from the end of January until the end of April. Obviously these are my two top destinations!
I am all packed up and ready to go. Fifty pounds does not leave room for much variety in my outfits for the next several months, but I don’t think it will matter too much since my plain black rain jacket is going to trump anything else on a daily basis.
My flight leaves Charlotte tomorrow evening and I will arrive in London early Friday morning. I will then take a coach (bus) to the city of Cardiff in Wales, where my good friend Beth goes to school. Beth is my British friend from middle school who moved back to England after 8th grade. We have kept up well over the past 7 years and she is the primary reason I chose to go to a school in Wales…when again might I ever live in the same country as her?? So I will have a great first weekend in the UK spending time with an old friend.
When I make it to Swansea (only an hour away from Cardiff University, its rival school) for the start of my pre-sessional class on Monday, I will tell you all some more information about my new home and first weekend abroad!
presslyblackley 