I am a few days away from arriving to my next adventure. With each passing day here in my hometown of Orlando, I have come to realize that in reality there is not enough time in each day. I have tried to relish each moment with my friends and family while still preparing everything I need for a semester being spent on the other side of the world. With doing so I feel as though I have forgotten something, that I didn’t get to see a certain person, that I still need to pack my carry on. Although I am happy to be able to do this once in a lifetime experience, I can not shake the feeling of being overwhelmed with the things I need to do before I travel. And as much as I tried to be prepared and on top of everything, I still find myself scrambling during my last few days in order to spend enough time with my loved ones and leave everything in order. I need to remind myself that, in fact, I will be coming back.
Apart from the pre-departure jitters, I have lived away from home before but the longest has been three months and in perspective, it is not as long as a semester and the places were never fifty hours of travel away. I am looking forward to seeing how little things like a fifteen-hour time difference or how people drive on the other side of the road is going to affect me. I have experienced shifts in culture and coming from a Spanish mixed with Polish home, adapting to a new culture is exciting and one of the parts of this trip I am looking forward to the most. This being said, I am beyond excited to depart to Australia.
I have always been the person with the travel bug, the person that is always looking for another trip and working out the logistics to make it happen so doing study abroad was always the biggest thing I looked forward to in college. Never did I imagine I would choose a place like Australia. I have only heard that Australia has the nicest people, the deadliest creatures, and dangerous sun. I can not wait to write again to the United States and be able to say that only that first part is true.