When in Kentucky! ... and going to Italy!

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On Thursday, January 4th of 2018 I will be taking the trip I've been wanting to take since I started college. Within the first week of arriving at Eastern Kentucky University I went straight to the study abroad office to find opportunities for myself that would allow me to travel and study (the two things I love most). Considering, I guess you could say that I've been preparing for this trip since the fall of 2016; it so happens that all of this preparing is taking me to Italy!



For me when it comes to traveling there is not much to prepare for emotionally. I have grown up traveling and have known my way around an airport on my own since I was twelve years old. While this is convenient, I know it will be a little more challenging traveling abroad on my own. Besides one trip to Japan, all of my travels have been within the United States. Japan was scary enough alone, so I am hoping (and honestly assuming) that traveling to a European country will be a little less difficult and/or stressful! I know from being in Japan that there will be a lot of walking for me abroad! Physically, I am a fairly active person and this was no problem for me while I was in Japan for ten days. I am thankful to have had the experience and know this time to bring comfortable shoes! This past week I tracked my steps and found that I walked a total of 22,404 steps from December 26^th- January 1^st. Know that number of steps for me is not normal as I have been in bed sick for most of the past week. One of those days made up 9,06 steps (a day I worked), and I stopped working after that day and started lying in bed trying to rest up for this trip. I am feeling much better now and am excited to walk as much as I can while in Italy!



When it comes to preparing typically I am either way ahead and or just in time; there are aspects to this trip where I have done both in preparation! While I am no procrastinator, there is nothing I dislike more than packing early. I’d rather pack just before and all at once! This is mostly because I hate needing something out of a bag I’ve already packed. I find that when I have to do that I will often forget to put that item back in the packed bag. For my sanity, its best if I pack right before; however, this puts me at Tuesday night writing this blog meanwhile a mile-high pile of clothes is waiting for me to tend to on my bed. While packing I inevitably notice things that I am in need of and I write them down as I go. List making is everything!



Tomorrow morning is when all of the final big items on my lists will be checked off. The big items include: picking up my euros from AAA, target, EKU bookstore, and laundry. These big items are also the items I really would have liked to have prepared for earlier. Luckily, AAA only takes one business day to get my money converted, and target is only a couple of miles away. Doing laundry early is like packing early…I don’t like it, but now I have too much! The main stressor here is that way back in the fall semester I was informed that for my spring classes I will need to be prepared for some quizzes once I arrive back from this trip. With that in mind, I have been crazy about trying to get my books ASAP. I am in the honors program at EKU and because so I get my books for free; unfortunately, this means that I can only get my books through the EKU Barnes & Noble bookstore. Do you remember back when I said I am really not a huge procrastinator? Well, tomorrow is the earliest the bookstore will allow me to come in and get my books! I’ve been calling every week for 3 weeks now, and every time the person on the phone at the bookstore tells me something different, but the date January 3^rd stays the same. Every time I have explained I need my books now because I will not be here, and I’m not very confident that it is going to happen. I am praying that I may be able to get these books tomorrow.



The realest way I’ve been readying myself for three weeks in a completely different country and culture is with researching anything and everything related to Italy. I’ve been looking at how much a typical meal costs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as how costs differ across Italy. I’m trying hard to be money conscious while I am there, but I still want to enjoy myself! Food is the center of many cultures, but I think it seems to be especially true for Italians. I’ve tracked how much time I took out of day to eat. I did this on December 30^th, an average day for me, and I found that I take about 45 minutes to eat a day. I know that I am an extremely fast eater. My whole life I’ve always been the first one to finish meals at the dinner table, and sometimes I can even find myself finishing seconds before others their first. Yikes! I’m excited to see if there is a change in this habit as I immerse myself in the Italian culture for three weeks. I like to take time to prepare my own meals more often than not, but I just haven’t been able to shake this habit of gulping down my food. I am excited for cooking classes and making my own meals while abroad! I have been looking into what Italian markets typically carry. I know that they do not have oatmeal over there, my staple breakfast for the past 4 years, so I am bringing my own to consume for breakfast each morning. I’m hoping this will also allow me to save a little, or undoubtedly spend a little more on gelato! Although I’ve found online that gelato here is supposedly a lot different from gelato there, I have definitely been having some myself so that I can attest to this myself.





There is more than the above to be discovered later. Now it is time for me to really start packing. Soon enough we will find out whether or not I prepped for this well, wish me luck! CIAO!

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