Two Weeks' Notice

I am leaving for London in two weeks!  I can’t believe the moment is nearly here!

There is so much on my mind; it is really quite overwhelming.

The thing that has been most nagging me recently is how much I am going to miss home.  “Home” encompasses everything from my family, my house, my neighborhood, my school, my friends, and even my country.  I have never really been away from home.  (Okay, that’s a little false: in fourth grade, I went on my first overnight trip to Taconic Outdoor Education Center in Cold Springs, NY, for three days; after graduation, I spent a joyous weekend at Minerals Resort with my good friends; finally, about a year ago, I had the best week of my life in Florence, Italy.)

So, I’ve been a bit away from home, but never for the duration of a whole semester.  In that sense, I am different from most of my fellow college students.  A year and a half ago, most of my peers had already put their adolescent years behind them and moved away to college.  Nope, here I am: still eating at the dinner table with my family instead of in a dining hall with schoolmates, still sleeping in my comfortable bed instead of on a strange cot and flat mattress-like thing in a dorm room.  There have been times when I complain about commuting and wish I had a place on campus, namely when the trains do not run in my favor or during late-late-night organic chemistry review sessions.  Nevertheless, I love my family and love coming home to them.

But no longer!  In two weeks, I will hop on a plane, skip across the pond, and move into a completely unfamiliar room, building, neighborhood, and country.  Hopefully, I will be sharing a room with my best friend; we shall see when I arrive.  I am thankful to know a bunch of NYU pals who are also traveling with me, and I hope to get to know them better over the course of these 16 weeks; I sense these are friendships that will last a lifetime.  At last, I think it is finally time for me to gain some real independence.  After all, my family has babied me for my whole life: I do not have to cook, clean, grocery-shop, or lift a finger at home.  (I do help out, though! Don’t get the notion that I’m a lazy brat.)  I’m a bit nervous about the cooking for myself and having to take care of laundry and watch my limited budget…but I couldn’t be happier!  And to be able to do it all in the City of Majesty!

I think I have always wanted to visit London.  Since I was young, I was always intrigued by their accents.  Who isn’t?  Then, when Harry Potter entered my life, I wanted to visit the real-life landmarks of King’s Cross, the Burrow, Hogwarts…oh, wait, never mind….  Also, London would be a springboard for my journey into the rest of Europe!  After my visit to Italy this year, I’ve been bitten by an extremely virulent travel bug, in the best sense, of course.  Every country and city I hear of, I want to visit!  Paris, Rome, Berlin, Madrid, Vienna – I want to see them all, and more, and I endeavor to do so.

Of course, it is not all fun and games.  I will be taking classes: Organic Chemistry II, Social Psychology, Cognition, and Seeing London’s Architecture.  I certainly have to discipline myself to make time to study and do well.  This might be a big obstacle, but…I suppose I will only know when it occurs…

…which will be quite soon!

Cheerio, darlings!