It is 9 o’clock PM on September 14th, I am sitting in my home that I have lived in since birth, it is storming outside, and I can hear my parents winding down after our day of packing and running around. My mom is beside me scrolling through photos taken at our dinner out and my dad is flipping through sports games. The lights are dim and I am under my blanket. Everything feels as it has always felt my whole life; safe, calm, and warm. The only thing that is different is the impending excitement of what tomorrow brings. In the morning my parents have already announced that we are going out to breakfast before they drop me off at the airport, on my own, to get onto my flight to London, England. Where I will be living and studying all semester. Sunday I turned 21, and tomorrow I step out and venture over the Atlantic Ocean, for nearly four months of nonstop adventure, learning, and newness. I have never in my life been so far out of my comfort zone, and being completely honest, I have no idea what to expect. Everything that I know about London I have read in books and heard in songs or seen in movies. Samuel Johnson says, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” I am so enchanted by the idea of getting to finally know why. I am ready to see the world in a new way, instead of pictures I have seen there will be pictures that I have taken. I will write the next words that someone will read about London. I will get to be there and see it all. Life is odd with all of its surprising twists and turns, looking back on all of the other moments in my life where I was sitting in this exact same spot, in this exact same position, I would have never expected to one day be writing about this. I have my bags packed with snuggly sweaters and my all-too-characteristic light pink trench coat. I limited myself to bringing only two books in my carry-on, one pencil, one pen, and one empty journal; true necessities when journeying into the next season of ones life. I’m ready!
