Flying Away

I finally made a blog! I guess I am a little late to the start as far as blogging goes but, better late than never! (If you know me you will know that I NEVER say this and in fact, I often believe that it should be better never than late). However, studying abroad has already made me open my eyes a little bit and forced me to rethink some of my views on how things work, or at least how I think they should work. Seeing as I did not start this blog before I actually left for Wales I am going to back track about a week and talk about the leaving home and arriving experience, which was an experience worthy of blogging let me tell you what.

          During the application process for studying abroad I just jumped through all of the hoops that were put in front of me and waited to hear back from just about everyone from both schools. When I was finally accepted into the program to study in Wales I was mostly just relieved to be done with the application process and didn't realize the magnitude of this event in my life. All summer I made lists in preparation for leaving, what to pack, what to buy, what to buy in Wales, where to go in Wales…everything. This soothed me and kept me focused on something other than the fact that I would be leaving home in four months. Towards the end of summer after my last day of work the realization finally hit me that I was actually going to leave. It didn't just hit me a little bit that I was leaving..No no.. it hit me like a sack of bricks. That was a really hard two weeks, but I got through it with the help of some really great people in my life. So eventually all of my bags were packed and it was Friday the 13^th….the perfect day for getting on a plane to London, wouldn't you say so?

          Getting to the airport was stressful at times but Mom and I really know how to whoop it up on a car ride so we had a good time! Once we got into the airport I had to constantly stop myself from thinking about leaving and just focus on getting my bags checked and getting my ticket. These things were done fairly easily and then it was time to say goodbye. At this point I was thankful that my mom was the only one that was able to come to the airport with me. As much as I love and miss my whole family it would have been too much for me to say goodbye to everyone right there in the middle of the airport. After a very tearful goodbye to my mom and Mitch’s family we were on our way to security. It was at this point in the journey that I realized just how thankful I wasn't going abroad alone. I had my best friend right next to me to make me laugh, guide me through security and find our gate.

          Waiting for our plane to arrive was pretty hard. I felt like I could easily just get up and leave the airport and go home and not have to leave. I knew I actually couldn't but the idea was there. We wandered around and ate dinner which took up most of our time until the plane finally arrived. Once we were actually on the plane I became very calm. We watched Identity Thief on the plane which was probably a bad choice because everyone was asleep while we were trying our best to not laugh loudly and wake everyone up. The movie was pretty funny, not the best movie I have ever seen but it was good enough to keep me from thinking about leaving. Eventually I fell asleep which was very nice but still did not do much to prepare me for the time change once we landed. After we landed and got all of our things together….we had so many things….we had to wait in line at customs. I would like to take a moment to kindly ask you all to start humming the Jaws theme song in your head..Duh Nuh…Duh Nuh…DUH NUH DUH NUH DUH NUH!!!!! It was that bad. We waited in line at customs for 3 hours. Did you catch that… 3 HOURS. It was horrible. It wasn't like the line was so long that it should have taken three hours. Oh no, we could see the end and we weren't moving AT ALL. Not an inch. Well except for when the people keeping us in the line told us we had to stand closer to make room for more people, that was fun. So for 2 hours we just sat there and then finally they hired more people or something because the line started moving again. I wouldn't be surprised if they just picked random people from line and hired them on the spot so they could get everyone through. Once we got through customs successfully…VICTORY!!...we had to go find our luggage. Thankfully it was still there and we were able to go find our group and get to our hotel in London. It still hadn't hit me that I was actually in a different country. The combination of no sleep, terror and confusion will do that to you I think. So far on my trip I have only had two real moments of “oh my good god what have I done”. Since I am still catching up with blog posts I suppose the next one will be ALL ABOUT LONDON. LUCKY YOU. Oh there is only one picture of us at the airport so I suppose I should at least put that up here for proof or something. ANYWHO..Ta-ra!! (That means goodbye I guess)