As I sit here at my kitchen table, I observe several things.
1) My countdown for Germany is getting awfully close to zero-- 4 days, 18 hours, 50 minutes, and 28...27...26... It's hard to believe that countdown started ticking about eighty days ago.
2) I just ate chips and salsa. Do Germans eat chips and salsa?
3) I am wearing a USA hat. To avoid being seen as a tacky tourist, I will be leaving this at home...
All jokes aside, studying abroad has been on my mind for many years, since sophomore or junior year of high school if not sooner. During the fall of my freshman year in college, I spoke with an advisor about the process of choosing and applying for a study abroad. Little did I know this dream would actually come true.
The dream became one step closer to reality today with one important milestone. I have conquered the challenge of packing for 110+ days within airline weight restrictions. Laugh all you want, but that was quite difficult, my friend. Amidst the many clothes it takes to prepare for weather of all sorts, a space waits to be filled with a gift for my host family. The idea of living with a host family summons a mixture of feelings, though excitement takes priority. I am excited to meet them-- husband, wife, four children, and the two cats, Mauzi and Schnulli. (Lol, fitting? I think yes.) I am excited for us to learn about each other and to learn from them as much as they are willing to teach me. I am excited to become a friend to their kids, especially their youngest and only daughter, Christina. My main concern is the language barrier, but my host mom tells me "when you talk slowly it should be no problem." Simple enough, right? Hopefully, my German winter-mester on Duolingo will pay off.
Recently, I have realized a mindset that I, and many other students no doubt, have fallen into and while it is not inherently bad, we will have to be cautious of it. As an ambitious, spontaneous, and adventurous almost-twenty year old girl, it's so easy to think "Awesome, we can go to this city this weekend and hike in this country the next weekend. Maybe we should go skiing on a long weekend and to a mediterranean beach another." Balancing the opportunities to travel with the remarkable privileges of learning abroad and working with a company will be challenging, but I look forward to making this life-changing journey with excellent professors, graduate students, and my wonderful peers, who will undoubtedly become close friends. I don't think fear or nerves will hit at all (that ain't my style), but to everyone flying out of Dallas, if you see me running up and down the halls of the airport, the excitement has officially hit.
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