Spring Break Reflections (and a brief look ahead)

Spring Break started Thursday and is about (give or take) the half-way point of our time here and I thought a quick reflection was necessary.

I started off my time here VERY homesick and for the most part, rather miserable. I have, however, come a LONG way since then. I am having a great time, getting to see new and exciting things, going to theatre shows, navigating my way around a city by myself, learning new things, spending quality time with my best friend and working on “finding me.” Though I cannot lie and say that I am never homesick anymore, it has gotten a lot better and comes much less often than it used to. I have made the decision to make the most of now and from here on out just worry about nothing else but enjoying my time here. Home and everyone I care about will be there when I come back in May (no offense, I still care about and love you all) but I will NEVER get the opportunity to be a young student studying abroad here again and I really need to act accordingly.

School is still…well…different. Professors are VERY vague here and instead of giving you detailed directions on assignments they kind of just tell you “go!” and you have no guidelines and just have to hope for the best. This is very frustrating for a control freak, perfectionist who expects nothing but the best from herself. With that said, I did manage to get a 90 on my health psychology midterm (WOOOO HOOO!!!!!) and actually feel like that class is going MUCH better. The rest of the grades for my other classes I will get after break.

The rest of our time here will be VERY busy. We leave for Dublin in the morning. Some of our adventures include: a trip to the Guinness Storehouse, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trinity College, The Writer's Museum, The James Joyce Museum, Saint Stephen's Green, and more! We come back to London on Wednesday afternoon and head to a Fulham vs. Blackburn Premier League Football (soccer) Match (pretty much as soon as we get off the plane) and then Michael leaves Thursday morning. Friday Bridget and I are going on a walk of London for her Literary London class (see we DO do homework, even on breaks!) and Saturday we go on a day trip to Canterbury. Then 2 weeks later Bridget’s dad comes and we do the “touristy” stuff over again. Right after he leaves is the beginning of April and we have my 21st birthday and then we head to Edinburgh, Scotland for my 21st birthday weekend! The next weekend is Easter and we have some time off so we are working on planning a trip to maybe either Greece or Spain. Then the weekend after that we head to Venice (we found round trip tickets for £50 a piece!). Shortly after that is finals week and then we fly home!

So as a brief reflection I have done A LOT of really great things, my entire time here has been absolutely amazing and I am so very grateful for this experience, I cannot even put it in words. I am sure the next few weeks will be just as amazing, if not better and I will certainly have TONS of memories (and pictures!) that I cannot wait to share and that I know will last a lifetime.