The beginning

So, I had decided back in 9th grade that I didn't want to live in the US anymore... or that I wanted to have an opportunity to live outside of the US for quite some time. To bring the story forward about 18 years. In September, the decision was made that I will be moving to London in 2009. Then, I thought, what the hell, I'll move it up a little to Summer of 2008 and will do what I can to get an Internship. THEN, while I was in the computer lab at school, I saw an advertisement that said, "Study Abroad in London!" and I just knew it was a sign that I should go. This was in late October, 2 days after the deadline to get in the application for the program. Right when I got home, I decided I was going to fill out the application and then send it over that night along with a note to the Study Abroad office. To my surprise, I received an e-mail back from the office the next day telling me that I could still get in to the program if I could hurry up and get them the other items they needed (transcripts, references, etc.). So, I did. I worked frantically to get in contact with old professors, request the transcripts from the school, fill out the applications for the Universities in London, write a personal statement, update the good 'ole resume, and whatever else it was that they needed for me to do. I found myself spending more time getting things together than I did on my full-time job or school work. It was unbelievable!

Once the paperwork had been submitted, I had received an e-mail telling me that there is a meeting that I must attend at the school. There is where we met up with the Director, Sharon, of the Study Abroad program... and we were advised that we had all been accepted. She reviewed some of the things that we should know before going, and how we should prepare for the trip, and that the only University I could attend based on my GPA was Middlesex University. I was not happy. Middlesex didn't offer any of the courses I needed to graduate. She also said she was leaving for London in a couple of days and asked for us to give her some questions to ask the Universities while she is there. All I wanted to know was if there was wireless internet in the dorms. I didn't really care about anything else.

A few days passed and Sharon got back to us with answers to our questions. I responded to her e-mail to see if there would be any way that University of Westminster would make any exceptions (I figured if you don't ask, you won't know). She responded and said that she would much prefer for everybody to attend University of Westminster and that she thinks that if I write a strong personal statement and have additional references, I ought to have no problem getting in. With the help of my good friend Dawn, I wrote a kick ass personal statement (that I had to do anyway for the Internship), but I just didn't have time to get any further references.

About a week later, I received an e-mail from the University of Westminster telling me that I have been accepted in to the program. Seriously, I thought I was going to cry. I couldn't believe that I was finally going to live my dreams! With this e-mail came more forms to fill out and fax over.

Now, I am not the typical study abroad student. Most students are about 19 - 21 years old, have no responsibilities, and have mom and dad to support them. I, on the other hand, have an apartment, a job, and a life that I am dropping in order to make this move. I am SCARED like you wouldn't believe! Every weekend is spent cleaning out a closet, going through storage, figuring out what to sell and what to keep, putting the car and the apartment up for sale/rent, networking with people in the UK, studying for school, etc. It's exhausting.

As you can imagine, my to-do list is huge. The most recent things that I have checked off of the list have been purchasing the ticket (arriving on December 28th) and applying for my cell phone number through PicCell. The next big things on the list are to figure out the financial situation and to apply for the visa. Ugh. I'm tired.