My visa is here, my flight is booked, my housing is assigned, I have my class and internship schedule, and I’m officially moved out of Oakland for the next four months.
The reality of the trip is finally hitting me. I’m excited, but I’m also very nervous. I grew up in Pittsburgh, and while I don’t go home or see my parents too often, it’s a comfort knowing that I can always drive home if I forget something or hang out with my mom if I have a bad day. I’m getting ahead of myself, though.
For starters, I’ll be studying abroad with Pitt in London. Secondly, I’m amazed at the amount of paperwork that I have had to do. There’s the original application, then an application for the company that handles the trip, then an internship application (complete with a resume and cover letter), then a visa application plus fingerprints. The fact that nobody told me this, however, leads me to believe that I’ll have such a great time that by the time I get home I’ll forget about the paperwork and forget to warn anyone who asks me how studying abroad is.
So here’s the heads up… before I leave and forget to warn any of you: Have a printer handy and prepare to fill out a lot of forms. Moving on. I’ll be taking two classes over there, an art class (where we visit the museums) and a British context based child psychology class. I’ll also be doing an internship with an organization called Befriend a Family that helps disadvantaged families and children to adjust. I’m home for the week and glad to be spending some last minute quality time with my family and friends. I’ll update again as it gets closer to lift off time.