The night before I left to study abroad I stood in my shower contemplating my life so far.I thought of all of the friendships, and memories that I had created.Those that I want to remember for a lifetime, and those that I wish I could just erase. It was harder then I thought, leaving behind the life I had created. I knew that in the end it would be worth it, but leaving behind all those people that I loved, that’s hard. The next morning I knew I would be off, leaving my land locked state behind for adventure in the magical land of Australia. Excited, yet terrified, I continued to ponder all that would lie ahead of me in the next few months of being abroad, while also thinking about all those things that I would be leaving behind.

One of my goals on my bucket list for a long time was to one day reach Australia.I still cannot believe that I finally put that dream to reality as I am sitting here typing this nonsense in my apartment in the Gold Coast.I feel like it’s all a dream.That one of these days I’m going to wake up and it’s not actually going to be real.

It took a lot of planning to come here. For weeks I hunted for the right place to go.What dates did I want, where exactly did I want to spend four to five months of my life?Common things that anyone goes through when searching for the right fit for them abroad.When I finally stumbled upon a place that seemed to fit all of my expectations, I couldn’t believe it.

This had to be too good to be true. I thought to myself many times as I waited for my acceptance to the program. There was nothing more exciting than getting my acceptance back and beginning the planning process to get to where I am today. All the excitement came crashing down on me though as the day drew nearer to me leaving.I couldn’t believe that I was actually going to do this.People were telling be that they were proud of me for going this far, but all I could think about was those things that I was going to leave behind.

I guess the whole point of the ramble that I just went on is to say, if you’re thinking about going abroad, do it. Don’t second-guess it, don’t fall into that hands of all the “what ifs”.Follow your heart.Go out and do the thing that you want to do so badly but you have all those doubts holding you back.You won’t regret it I promise.I’m saying that leaving everything behind is easy, because it’s not.It will be hard to leave the people and things you love the most behind. I know that as I sit here and think of everybody back in the States that I miss dearly. Just know that they will always be there for you.They want you to follow your dreams just as much as you do. So don’t sell yourself short, follow your dreams, reach for the stars, and just go for it.