Gate B30

After a very long and hot summer, five days of on-campus orientation, and a three-hour traffic-ridden bus ride through what seemed like was all five boroughs of New York City, I am finally sitting in JFK at the gate of my flight to London. I’m nervous, I’m excited, I’m feeling all the same emotions I did when I was waiting for my flight to Stuttgart two years ago today, but this time I know I only have four months as opposed to twelve. One third of the time means that I have to do everything three times as fast. My amount of hours logged on Netflix will dramatically decrease within the next four months, and while I love to binge-watch West Wing, I know that my quality of life will increase as well by spending more time in the moment, enjoying London and Great Britain for all it is worth. As was mentioned to me many times during Arcadia Fall Orientation, life is not measured by the amount of breaths you take, but by the amount of moments that take your breath away, and I plan to have a lot of those moments this semester. I already have a couple of trips planned with Arcadia, namely trips to Stonehenge and Bath, to see Shakespeare’s Othello at the Globe Theatre, to go to a football match, and to visit Hampton Court, the castle where Henry VIII lived and ruled. I have tickets to go to Iceland for a week with my friend Zoe, who I became very good friends with while in Germany and who I hosted for the year last year. My family is trying to come to visit for Christmas at the end of the semester, so if everything goes right, I have a very exciting four months ahead of me. I also have plans in the works to go visit all of my friends that I made last year from our five European partner schools, and I’m also looking to go to Oktoberfest again. My bank account will suffer, but for this I am prepared and ready. The first five or so days that we are in London are booked chock-full of sightseeing, walking tours, cooking classes, and some very good food as part of our London orientation. Stay tuned for more updates to come as I begin my semester and my love affair with London!

Welcome!

Hello! Welcome to Grace Goes Abroad! In one week, I will begin my journey as a college student with her eyes set on the world. Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to travel to anywhere and everywhere and that travel bug has only grown since. During my junior year of high school, I was given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study in Aalen, Germany as an exchange student on a full-ride scholarship through a program at my high school in Pennsylvania. During my year, I not only explored Germany and became fluent in the language, but also took every opportunity that presented itself to me over the course of 11 months and was able to travel to 8 different countries in Europe. Now a college freshman, I plan to take advantage of all the amazing study abroad opportunities through my school, Arcadia University. The first of these opportunities presented itself in the form of the FYSAE program (First Year Study Abroad Experience) which allows first-year students to spend a semester at Arcadia centers in either London, England or Stirling, Scotland. After I was accepted to the University, I got a letter saying I was eligible to apply to this program. I applied, was accepted, and the rest is history! I leave on August 29th to live in London until January and I couldn’t be more excited. In less than two weeks, I will be back in Europe-I can’t wait!

So why study abroad? As an international studies major, I am a bit biased, but I truly believe that studying in another country gives you an education a textbook could never give you. When you study abroad, you not only learn more about other people from other countries and cultures-you learn more about yourself. You learn where your limits are and where your comfort zone ends- and then you learn how to take leaps and strides past and on the way, you learn more about yourself than you ever could have sitting in a dorm or in your bedroom at home. In Germany, I became a much stronger person just from the nature of the experience. Since my return, I’ve been more open, more confident, and more willing to accept that I’m not good at everything and that I don’t have to be. Germany changed me for the better and I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity. London will be different, of course. This time I will be speaking the same language as Londoners, which is a huge hurdle that I don’t have to jump over this time, but I won’t be living with a host family as I did in Germany.  Living independently with my roommates in a dorm in London, buying all my own food, making my own decisions, and the responsibilities that come with living on your own will present new challenges that I haven’t encountered before. However, it is my opinion that the sooner I get this learning curve out of the way, the better prepared I’ll be for the rest of my life. I might as well do it now!

In two weeks I’ll be on my way to the next great adventure. Follow me to London and beyond as I study abroad throughout college, there’s sure to be some fantastic experiences to share with you all!