The Final Countdown

You may be wondering what I mean by the title of this blog post and I am so excited to say that in less than a month, I will be just arriving in Australia to begin my semester abroad at the University of Technology. As my roommates are preparing to head back to PC in a week, I am only halfway through my winter break. Crazy, I know. As much as I am already missing PC and life on campus and would be just fine with making the ride down 95 South next weekend to begin second semester, I am beyond ecstatic to start a journey that I am sure will be unlike any other. A recent reminder of how truly incredible studying abroad can be was just about a week ago when my older sister, Cait received a call from her friend Julie. As I have mentioned in a previous post, Cait met Julie when the two of them were studying abroad in Australia. During that time, Julie met and began dating Colton, who just proposed to her! After 4 years of dating, the happy couple is engaged!!! I figured those of you reading my blog would care to know of such happy news that would never be a celebration had it not been for a study abroad experience.

Since I haven’t posted in quite a while, I want to first say that I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday and New Years. It sure has been a spectacular month in my neck of the woods. I have to be honest and say right now I am a bit overwhelmed. For the past few years, I have been so used to winter break coming and going and second semester flying by in a flash. But this time around, it is all a little different. I feel I have so much to do to prepare for my semester abroad! This entire planning process really has made me grow up quite a bit. I have had my organizational skills tested with emails flooding in every day in regards to my visa, my class schedule, flights, books, weekend excursions, orientation, health insurance and so on. All of these things that I have never had to worry about prior to heading to PC for a semester are all of a sudden hitting me….in a very good way.

It is truly hard to describe my feelings as of now because I still have a couple of weeks left at home. I am not quite nervous yet, but the excitement has definitely already set in. I think this is in large part due to the fact that many of my friends have arrived in their study abroad locations and the pictures look incredible! Prior to last semester wrapping up, the Center for International Studies held a pre-departure orientation. During this afternoon of information overload and tons of advice was a meet and greet with more than 20 students who just studied abroad last spring! These students are now seniors at PC and had nothing but smiles on as they introduced themselves. It was so encouraging to see dozens of students who wanted nothing more than to boast about their experiences and tell us every little thing they wish they had known before heading overseas. I lost count of the number of times these students told us how jealous they were of us just starting our study abroad journeys.

So, here I am at home in New Hampshire texting with my roommates who are heading back to Huxley Ave this coming weekend for second semester and I am comfortable in the fact that I have some time left to prepare for my adventure! Although this semester will surely be different, I am confident that it will be different in an amazing way. PC has given me this opportunity to travel, study and explore a part of the world that I may never get to see again. And for that, I will be forever thankful. Of course, I will keep my readers posted on my semester abroad and I will also be blogging for IFSA-Butler (Institute for Study Abroad at Butler University) which is the program I am enrolled in. I will be sure to keep those posts available to my PC blog followers as well! Have a successful second semester, wherever you may be on the map! Go Friars.