By maxikaplan
One 45-minute drive to the Heathrow airport, two cups of coffee, and 8 hours flying gone by, I arrive in Newark, New Jersey on Wednesday morning for an interview I have on Friday. I could be wrong, but this isn’t what I had in mind when I pictured studying “abroad.” Two days later, on Friday night, I forget about the schoolwork I should be doing as I receive an offer for the internship I had interviewed for. With that, my stress level plummets, and I am now free to enjoy the next 6 months of my study abroad experience to the fullest.
This is all well and good, except it is now December 9th, and I can’t seem to remember where the last 2 and a half months have gone. With the amount of time I spent preparing for this interview and stressing about it as well, I was really taking away from the time I should have been spending enjoying London. But I cannot change the past—at least not yet—and I have only one goal for the rest of my time abroad now: enjoy it as much as possible. Luckily, I’ll have the chance to do this when I travel in two weeks time to Paris, Belgium, Berlin, and Dublin, where I will be sure to make up for lost fun over the past couple months. I suppose the main takeaway from this whole experience is that hard work does payoff, but that you cannot forget to enjoy the journey along the way. If that sounds cliché, it’s because my jetlag has me awake for the past 30 hours, but I digress.
If I have my timing right, I believe I have only another two blog posts left, which means that my next two posts will be extra interesting. The general theme throughout my blogs has been more of a take-it-as-it-comes approach as opposed to an overview of my travel experiences, or lack thereof, so I am shooting to make my next two posts more holistic in nature. It will be interesting to compile all of the things that I have learnt thus far into two concise posts. And, in addition, I will be able to write about what life in London is like without the added weight that my interview stress had put on me. I am truly looking forward to that. For now, this abbreviated post is all that my tired brain can write, but I hope it captured for you how study abroad can take random twists and turns that you do not ever expect before traveling—which in my case meant less “abroad” and more home than I expected.