Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Nervous Energy

With only 16 days left I'm starting to get butterflies in my stomach. I can't even imagine how nervous I will be the day prior to my trip! Especially now with the volcano causing mass airline chaos. I don't know what to expect and I won't have my phone in Europe to give me a sense of security. I don't think I've ever done something so far outside of my comfort zone. I'm really excited about how this will make me a stronger more independent person but I'm also secretly worried and having doubts. I guess it's normal to have doubts whenever one embarks on a life changing adventure.

I feel like the best thing for me to do right now is to make a list of things that I would like to accomplish within the next year. That way I'll focus less on what I'm leaving behind and more on what I'm going to do.

Top Things to do in my Year Abroad!

Run a Half Marathon
Go on a date with a European
Have a conversation completely in French
Get a picture in front of the Eiffel Towel
& Big Ben
Salsa dance in Spain
See a European Orchestra
Go to a 'Football' game
Eat a meal out by myself without a book
Stay in a hostel
Go on a trip and bring only a backpack
Go to Oktoberfest
See a painting by Picasso
See the sun set on the western shore of Europe
Go to Ireland
Try a Swiss Chocolate Fondue
See the Alps

I'm sure I'll think of more later but this seems like a pretty good list to start with. Now I feel far more at ease about this trip! More to come as it gets closer!

-B


Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Planning

The older I get the more I realize that nothing goes exactly how I planned they would. I always imagined that once I finished college I would be able to find a job, move into my own house and "begin" my life. Well here I am almost 1 year post graduation and I will be leaving to go to Switzerland for a year to become an Aupair. Is this what I imagined I'd ever be doing in my life? Not at all, I imagined the only chance I'd get to see Europe would be my future honeymoon. Even with these pre-dispositioned thoughts I still feel like this is exactly what I should be doing right now.

I've never been the kind to spontaneously make life changing decisions or even go anywhere far from my family. I've always lived how I assumed my life should progress. Grade school, college, job, family, that sort of thing. Even now I still can't really believe that I will be leaving in a mere 23 days to move to Europe by myself and stay with people that I have never personally met. My motivation behind this change was from a movie. I was watching P.S. I love you one night and realized how much I'd love to travel one day. Well, one day turned into in the next few months and after signing up with an online aupair agency of sorts I found a pretty remarkable family. I feel comfortable and right about this family and I suppose that's why I'm not freaking out about leaving my family for the first time in my life.

I'd like to document my travels and experiences abroad so that my friends and family will have a way to not only live vicariously through me but also know that I am safe and happy. At least that I plan to be. I hope to document my travels but also how I (a pretty typical American girl) will merge with a new culture. I have started to learn French and have already started researching European fashion treads which are unsurprisingly very similar to my own. I have also been researching travel techniques and packings lists that I plan to post on here as well. Perhaps I'll even inspire some to go out on a limb and travel themselves.

Even as I make mental plans and fantasize about what my year in Europe will be like I have to continue to remind myself that nothing goes according to plan.