I can't believe it's finally here, the moment I've been preparing for since I attended freshman orientation at UT. I'll begin my study abroad experience on Tuesday. Well, not the studying part...that doesn't start til February, but definitely the experience part! I'll leave Nashville at 5:59pm and arrive in Aarhus Wednesday at 4:15pm their time. I'll be seven hours ahead, so I'm hoping my family keeps that in mind while trying to Skype me.So far I've read at least 5 books on Denmark, Europe, studying abroad, and basically anything remotely related. I think I'm pretty prepared. Although I know traveling over there alone, I'm still going to be very anxious. Airports seem to raise stress levels no matter what. Tic Tacs usually calm me down, so Mom bought me a whole case of them for my carryon.
I finished packing yesterday. I ended up not needing one suitcase, which is great because I can't imagine how hard it would be for me to lug around 4 big suitcases + a purse and backpack. As of now, I'll only be checking one bag, and carrying on a small suitcase and my backpack. I think I'll just stick my purse inside the backpack.
I really love the facebook group our mentors created for the international students. It has helped me not feel as nervous knowing that all of the other students are experiencing the same feelings, thoughts and questions as me. I've already made a couple travel buddies, shopping buddies, and workout buddies. They even want to join me for Zumba! I'm so glad they have Zumba there, I hated not having it at the Trecs this past semester.
The goodbye part has felt a lot like the first time I left for college. Saying bye to friends who left earlier than others, and then promising to stay in touch... sometimes you do and sometimes you find its hard to make time for everyone that you used to. Now my friends are making Skype date promises, which is nice to hear. I'm sure I'll need to hear from them from time to time to get through periods of homesickness. Catherine has promised to keep me in the loop with all the RA drama that goes down lol.
So much is about to happen for me, and I'm afraid it is all going to happen way too fast. Studying abroad this semester, interning over the summer, and then I'll just have my senior year to finish up before real life begins. It's pretty intimidating!
