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Published: January 20th 2014
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The day that everything started might not have been as dramatic as the title implies, but it certainly came out of nowhere. Until then I was a normal university student, majoring in Creative Writing and desperately trying to find a way to make that relevant. One day, completely by chance, I arrived at a poetry class about ten minutes early and heard two students discussing their own study abroad experiences. I listened to the excitement in their voices as they talked about all of the places they had seen and the wonderful people they had met, and an idea began to stick in my mind.
These quiet ideas are the worst. They are subtle. They are tenacious. They bide their time until you're sleeping, or showering, or doing some other mundane task that doesn't require much higher functioning. Then they come howling out of the darkness and demand that you pay them the proper attention. This is exactly how the idea of studying abroad manifested itself. The day after hearing this seemingly innocent discussion, I literally stepped out of the shower and called my mother so that I wouldn't be alone in my suffering. Hopefully she could at least talk
some sense into me.
"What do you think about me studying abroad?" I asked when she answered the phone. No preamble or warning.
She never even paused. "Do it. Do it, Kelsey. I've been telling you for years that you don't want to settle down, you want to travel as much as you can before life happens."
I remember leaning against the bathroom wall, a little overcome with the sudden possibility of escaping. I had lived the first eighteen years of my life in a small Texas town, and moving five hours away from my family for college had been pretty stressful. What would it be like to live an entire ocean away for at least six months?
"Are you still there?" she asked.
I explained everything that had led to the question, and she still thought it was a wonderful idea. That was in late March, and after a few weeks of discussion and asking questions, the process was well under way. I chose the University of Hull in England, about two hours north of London by train, and we began the complicated process of applying and transferring credits. I practically danced for joy when I found out that they had a three week spring break and I would be turned loose in Europe for twenty-one days.
I took to the idea of travel like a duck to water. One of my favorite memories from that time was the day that my study abroad counselor asked a question about one of Hull's policies. I pulled my binder out, thumbed through a few pages, and gave her the answer. Her forehead sort of puckered, and she asked to see the binder. I handed it over and she began going through it. The first half was dedicated to university information like housing prices, class schedules, checklists, FAQ's, the code of conduct, and so on. Even better was the second half, which I had devoted entirely to the spring break trip that would cover six cities in three weeks. By that point I had nearly everything, tours, hostel confirmations, plane and train prices. I had even been asked by a hotel in Paris to email them again in January because it was too early in the season to book a date in April.
When she saw the extent of my planning, the counselor looked up at me with this stunned expression. "You've got to be the most organized student I've ever seen," she said. "You really have everything here."
I was also a little stunned, just because anyone who has ever seen my room can contest her statement. Or my car. Or my purse. Suffice to say, organized was not how I rolled.
There's a first time for everything, I guess. In the eight months between conception and takeoff I turned into a paradigm of careful planning. I had whole itineraries planned out, even going so far as to look up how long it would take for me to walk from each place. I laugh when I look at them now. I've learned a lot since then, though I do applaud past-Kelsey on her optimism.
Another favorite memory from this time was sitting down with one of the girls from my poetry class who had served as inspiration. She was floored by the idea that her words had brought all of this to life. I wish I could explain how completely she changed everything that day. I'm not just talking about a period of six months, I'm talking about the entire trajectory of my life. I discovered a huge part of myself while traveling. I found a passion for seeing new things and experiencing new cultures. When all was said and done, it was the best decision I have ever made.
Here endeth the prologue. The stage is set and the other players have their entrances; the lead still isn't sure of her lines, but that's okay. She will simply have to make them up as she goes.
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