I know I'm not the first person to travel out of the country for 2 months and I am certainly not the last, but I am starting to get that sort of pre-trip panic where I am realizing that I am leaving behind everything about my life that is familiar and comfortable aside from what fits in my suitcase for what I consider to be a VERY LONG TIME. I suppose I am taking the Internet with me, which is a big help, but I am leaving behind ice water and waffles and my queen sized bed and mexican food and my family and american currency and farenheit and my Ford fiesta and using my cell phone and chipotle and most of my posessions.
I have never been away from home for a VLT. I spent 2 weeks with Lauren and Lena last May when I hopped on their Accio Bodyguard tour, but 2 weeks is nothing. 2 months I am a little nervous about. I have been flailing all around my bedroom making sure I have the right cables and converters and adapters and paperwork; the clothes I'll want to wear for two months, the shoes to match those clothes, and something that can act as an alarm clock for me so I don't miss my 10 AM classes.
I have also been scrambling to eat all the parishable food in my house, and I can assure you that makes for some very interesting meals as I run out of essential things like bread and milk and butter but still have weird stuff like pepperoni, cottage cheese, yogurt and popsicles left. All of this stuff needs to be gone because it will either get moldy, or get eaten by my housemates, as I will not be in this house again for a VLT.
I'm mostly excited. In fact, I am 98% excited.
That last two percent makes up the part of my brain that's jittery and nervous.
I'm going to try to read some more of my study abroad required reading (there is NOTHING I hate more than being assigned books to read. It's taking something I generally like doing and making it a chore. Even if I enjoy the book, it still sucks all the fun out of it) while I take a cold bath (it's still SO HOT in this house) before I meet up with Kayley and Denis to complete and film a particularly strange and fun Fiesta mission. Technically it's the one for next month, but I need to film it while I am still here with my car.
Has anyone else read "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith? That's the book I am working on.
In other news, today I had to ask Alex on skype video chat which of my apple computer adapters was the UK one, JUST TO BE SURE. I'm taking the Continental Europe one as well for when I go to Italy (and possibly Paris) but the European one looks JUST like the Korean one so I had to bring BOTH of those because I really couldn't tell them apart.
Just to give an update, I posted my Shoe video which was my 3rd fiesta mission, and I took the advice of a few of you (thanks Dave and Lacey!) and tried my very first stop motion video. I did it myself with a stupid digital camera and a wobbly tripod, and I really thought it was going to be horrible because I did it all by myself and afterwards thought I'd only taken about 50 pictures or so... but when I uploaded the pictures to my computer, there 193! I was super impressed with myself, haha. I was tired and hot and sweaty after, so if there is one thing I learned from this whole experience, it's to never make a stop motion video by yourself. xD
Days until I leave for London: 4
Exclusion Principle
1 day ago
31 comments:
Reading this made me remember what I felt like two years ago right before I left for Germany for two months. It was the first time I was going to be away from my family for more than a few weeks (I was supposed to go to band camp for two weeks, but I came home after one because every time I walked into the cafeteria I felt like puking and I hadn't eaten for about 4 days). Anyway, I totally know what you mean about that mix of nervous and excited. I mean, I was going around for months before I left, unable to keep my mouth shut about how awesome it was to be going to another country, and then the last few nights before I left I hardly slept at all because I couldn't get my brain to shup up about how many things i didn't know how to say in German. (I remember distinctly sitting up in bed thinking, "I don't even know how to say computer!" The german word for computer is "Computer")
Sorry for going on and on, but what I want to say is: I had an amazing two months there and I hope you enjoy your two months in England immensely!!
I understand what you mean when you say you're 98% excited. I'm studying abroad in Spain-for the full next school year. I've studied Spanish for 8 years and absolutely love it, but I'm still nervous that I'll get there and be completely lost.
I'm thinking about spending a year abroad during my senior year of high school, I actually applied so i could do it junior year but decided to wait, but it is so scary. I think about the general experience and how great it will be and how wonderful it will be to really live in another country , but then I start to think about all the little things, like not seeing my friends and family for a whole year and packing and school and meeting people and having to learn a different language and I am so incredibly scared. I've never been away from home for a long period of time and the idea of going to live in another country, where I know no one, and don't speak the language is so scary. It's like you're really excited and you start worrying about the dumbest little things and then start freaking out...
But I'm sure you will have an amazing time and I'm excited to read your blogs from London. Even if you get really homesick, you'll have Alex. And honestly, although two months sounds like a really long time, it will probbaly go by in a flash and you'll want to stay tow more.
Thank you for reminding me that I have to make Isaac his first waffle when he moves to America. He was already in love with American pancakes and now makes them for his family.
I'm really excited for you. You have such an exciting life, at least compared to my own.
I know what you mean about assigned reading being a chore. I have to read 'The Time Traveller's Wife' this summer for school, and I was actually intending to read it anyway but now I HAVE to, I can't bring myself to start it.
You'll have an awesome time in London and that will make up for all the stress it's causing you right now.
=D
When I was 15, I went and lived in China for 5 months. My grandparents lived there and taught English at a university, so it wasn't like I was without adult guidance, but at fifteen being away from my mom for that long was pretty tough. In addition, my grandfather got cancer and almost died in the first couple months of my trip. Emotionally scarring!
But it was an amazing experience.
London is one of my favorite places. I studied there for a summer back in...1995! It was one of my favorite summers ever.
It'll be great. You'll be great! :)
Hey! You're the featured agent on the fordfiesta page right now! haha
The beginning of this post made me laugh, because I'm away from home right now (still in the country though, just a few provinces away) and two of the things I miss the most are ice water and mexican food!
Sorry if this sounds strange, but I am so excited for you! I went to Europe for two months a couple of summers ago, and it was an amazing experience. I think you'll really enjoy the adventure and England/Europe in general. The time will fly by, I'm sure! :) I totally get what you mean about being 98% excited/2% nervous; I'm always like that before going away.
You are going to end up loving traveling out of the country. I have a feeling that it is going to be something you look back upon and be so glad you did it. I hate reading books for school. I would have loved reading Cold Sassy Tree if I wanted to, but I ended up hating it. Have fun in England! I know you are going to love it.
You'll have Alex with you. Remember how fast the two months he was in Seattle went? That's how fast your time in London will go.
Good luck finishing packing! And make sure your iPod is fully charged before the flight. ^_^
Ah, I'm jealous. I can completely understand the nervousness though, I would probably be scared out of my mind to go to another country for that long. But I hope to do it next summer, I find the idea of being thrown into a different culture really exciting.
London is great. Living in England is very cool and having my grandparents live very near London means I can visit when I want to. Out of interest which university are you going to? :)
Oh, hey... you're the featured agent on fiestamovement.com right now.
Yeah, I hate it when reading becomes a chore, it's just not fun!
I'm sad how now that you're going to London you're MUCH closer than when you're in Seattle. I live in Portugal and there are no such things as YouTube or Harry Potter gatherings over here, which sucks. I'd love to meet you :(
Ah, well. <3
I hear you when you say you are excited but nervous about going. I have grown up in a small town in Indiana and I went to school only 45 minutes away. But this Saturday I leaving to go live in Jacksonville Florida for a year of service with AmeriCorp. I am excited to go and to grow up but I am nervous as heck. I won't know anyone down there. I'm leaving my friends and family and everything I know. But I also know that by going I am going to experience so many new things and meet some amazing people. I will keep you in my thoughts as you go on this journey. A friend once told me that the things that scare you the most are always worth the most. Good Luck Kristina!!!
I know your panic. I went to visit my friends in Illinois for a month, and was running around my room trying to stuff every little thing I could into my bag. Turns out I should have brought more clothes, because I had very little time to do laundry.
Also, the stop motion was excellent imo :)
Welcome to the continuous transatlantic roundabout!
Try not to panic. Most things nowadays are dual voltage, so adapters are fine without the voltage converter (your apple stuff at the very least), and remember that anything you need, you can buy in the UK. Promise! By the end of the 2 months, all of this will be old hat!
awesome!
I'm excited for your trip to London. I know that's just weird, I'm just excited for you. I 'see' you in blogs, vlogs, and tweets so I feel I know you and sometimes I feel like I'm WITH you. So, you better have fun. :P
-alex
The shoe video was great!... How did they expect you to work the car into a video about shoes?
I don't blame you for being nervous. I always go into a sort of panicked, packing frenzy before I go anywhere out of the ordinary. But I know you'll have an awesome time, and everything will work out fine. You know people there who can help you, so no worries!
wish I was going to London. :(
It would be seriously hard to go away from everyone for 2 months tho...but im sure you'll have an amazing time.
A friend of mine is studying abraod in Belgium for a whole year...crazy but fun I guess.
Reading is a chore when its forced which is why I HATE the AR reading system at school. takes something enjoyable and kills it lol.
good luck with packing :D
-nicole
LONDON!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Italy is amazing! Which cities will you be visiting?? Milan by any chance?
We want to see pictures of London!
I wish I could go to some foreign country for two months. Even if it was for school. But I wouldn't want to go alone, because the whole time I would be worrying about getting mugged and/or lost. You're so lucky you have Alex and Charlie and all the other cool British youtuber/people.
I has a question. You're going to still blog when you're in England, right? I need my daily dose of Kristina witticism. [=
I hope you enjoy your time in England!
I just want to thank you Kristina, I'm not a happy person in the slightest today but I knew reading your blog would cheer me up. And it did. So thanks. :)
Hope you remember everything for the trip. :P Don;'t forget, if you make a check list, DO go through it; don't assume you have everything.
x
I've read 'White Teeth' in April as it was recommended to me by my English teacher. I absoloutely loved it, but I can see what you mean about having to read something that you haven't picked out yourself, even if you liked it.
Don't be nervous about coming over here (the U.K.). You'll have Alex and I'm sure you'll settle in fine. :)
I know what you mean.
Normally I can't wait to get my hands on a book, but as soon as they give you a list and tell you that this has to be done, the fun in reading just disappears.
I now have every single book left, and not many months to read them all.
See? I told you 2 weeks would go past quick :) why do you have a Korean adaptor...?
AND 2 months might seem like a long time, but they'll fly by; I promise!!! and once you're there and you've got used to being in the UK you'll be sad to leave, hehe.
All your posts about how excited for London you are is getting ME excited for London. I'm studying abroad there in October for 10 weeks, so yay. Blog a lot about it when you get there! :)
Yeah, assigned reading really sucks. Takes out all the fun. I've never been outside of boring ole America, so I can't really say that I understand what it's like to be panicking and packing before a huge trip, so let's just pretend I understand, 'K? he he. Anyway, it does sound like fun. You get to learn in a whole different country. That's pretty freakin awesome. And I hope you have a great time!! =]
Leaving behind waffles?! You poor, poor girl... :D You should make sure to stop by Belgium.
They really have to fix the inbox thing on YouTube - I had no idea you had a new video up. :(
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