The countdown has been going on my phone since the day I was accepted on this trip in the summer, and it is surreal that it is in essence here. In just a few short days I will be traveling to the other side of the world to the one place I have dreamed of going: Australia.
Since it is right around the corner, I thought I’d give some advice for anyone who is thinking of studying abroad.
First off, do it. Find the money, apply for scholarships, whatever. You will thank yourself later when you might have some extra debt, but you also have an once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was worried too, but you just need to put it all in perspective. How many opportunities will you have to travel like this once you have a career, a family, and more responsibilities? That’s right, almost none.
So you apply and get accepted. You have planned the money. Now, it’s the waiting game. You are about five or six months out and have a couple surveys and forms to fill out. At this point, you also need to ensure you have your passport. It takes a while to get one, so make sure you plan ahead. You really don’t want to race around to find it or get a new one. Luckily, my mom comes to the rescue again and always kept mine in a safe place. Your passport is probably the most important thing, so get on that early.
Days, weeks, months pass, and you start getting a bit antsy. Emails start coming left and right. For me in particular, they were coming in all the time because the professor and program are run from another university. Email and Facebook are the only correspondence I have had with them. Putting these all in a separate folder in your inbox is super helpful. Whenever your parents have a question you can pull the information up quickly without searching the entire inbox. There is a ton of important information in these, and they are critical for you to prepare.
Because my trip is two weeks over winter break, the fall semester workload took precedence over anything for my Australia class. At the same time, I wish I wouldn’t have waited to start until after finals on my pre-departure assignments. I have a 400-page book to read, a quiz to take, and a chapter summary to write so, yeah, procrastination hurt me here for sure. Read that syllabus as soon as it is sent to you to ensure you mentally prepare yourself.
So it is the week of the trip and time to start packing. This is probably one of the hardest parts, in my opinion. Deciding what you need for two weeks while in a country where the seasons are the opposite is so difficult. I am always prone to over-packing because I over-think. For some reason, I find the need to pack half my wardrobe because I’m indecisive and have no idea when to stop. Make list after list to prepare yourself for this. You don’t want to waste souvenir money because you forgot your charger. Double- and triple-check that you have the most important things. Quadruple-check that you have your passport. That is the one thing you can’t leave without.
So as I continue to freak out over the next few days over my packing and assignments, it will all be worth it when I fulfill the number one item on my bucket list (along with probably six other things). So happy travels, and remember to take Nike’s advice and just do it.
