Ready for Adventure

There’s a map that hangs above my dad’s desk. It belonged to my grandpa and it is covered in different colored pins. Each color symbolizes something different –places I’ve been, places I want to go, my next trip, my favorite trip. I remember looking at is as a kid in awe of how well traveled my grandpa was. That map has inspired me to go, to see, and to do just as he had done. And soon I’ll be able to add a few pins to my own map as I venture on to Europe to study abroad.

Anxious would be an understatement. I’m still about two weeks away from flying out of San Antonio, yet I find myself constantly consumed by thoughts of food, and beer, and music, and history, and sight-seeing. Packing has led to lengthy conversations with friends and family about what to take even thought I know I’ll put it off until the night before. What if I leave something important behind? What if I don’t have enough space? What if my bags are too heavy? Am I taking too much? Am I not taking enough? I’ll figure it out…eventually.

I think I am most excited about the people I’ll meet and the relationships I’ll form with my peers, teachers, and host family. Nothing seems to bring people together quite like adventure. There are sure to be a few bumps in the road, but I hope that we can bond over our wrong turns and failed attempts at reading maps. I’m not sure what exactly the program has in store for me. That is part of what makes this whole experience even more exciting. I expect to get lost a time or two, but who knows where the journey will take us. I’m hoping to learn a lot about history and culture in Europe, to relax, and to enjoy wandering.

In a few weeks I’ll be jumping on a plane by myself to go travel, live, and learn in a foreign country with strangers. Even to me it sounds a little crazy. I’m not too concerned about being homesick; I’m more concerned with how my mom will handle me being gone for so long. Her baby girl has caught the travel-bug and I’m afraid there is no cure. Christopher Columbus summed it up pretty well when he said, “You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose site of the shore.” I’m ready. Europe here I come.