Leaving for Dunedin in July

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June has come to an end and I am going to be in a new country in less than a week. I’ve done this before, but for some odd reason, it hasn’t set in yet. It’s been quite the short summer. I’ll start with that. I have only been home for three weeks. Like bruh… seriously?!

It’s always nice to come home and see my family for the summer time. My mom has had me go and visit all the family members I could possibly visit. They always tell me about how much I’ve grown which is also crazy to me because I am NOW a junior in college?!?!

Everything feels unbelievable. In preparation for New Zealand, I have done ZERO research. All I know is that the country is currently experiencing their winter season. That makes life so much easier considering I know how to prepare for the winter as a result of attending our school. I wonder if it will be more cold than Denver because of how I’ll be near the coast of the South Pacific Ocean. Anyways, so many things to wonder about!

I leave the day after 4th of July which is kind of a bummer. Again, it’s been a super short summer so I have only been stealing time. Knowing my mom, I am sure she’s going to try to make use of all the time we have together before I disappear for another 4 months.

I feel like these kinds of transitions aren’t talked about enough. The effect of traveling abroad on your family and those around you. The first time I went abroad, I was too excited to notice how those around me felt about my absence. This time around, I am realizing the anxiety and uneasiness that creeps up in them whenever I mention that I shall be in a new country (technically by myself) for four months. Again, it hasn’t really set in that I’m going to abroad for the second half of the year, but it’s setting in for those around me like my parents and siblings. I guess that’s a part of the transition into adulthood.

Anyways, I shall keep you all updated as I begin to prepare for my trip to the Southern hemisphere. I am NOT excited to enter the cold, but I am excited to see the Aurora Australis. That’s probably the only thing I know about New Zealand hahaha.

See you soon!!!

The Start of a Journey: Day 1 and 2

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Maastricht
Downtown Maastricht

On August 15th, the journey started at Chicago O Hare International Airport. It was an opportunity of a lifetime, a year in the making. I will travel to Maastricht, Netherlands, for the next four months. This would be my second and longest time abroad. The first two days here have been about adjusting to life in the Netherlands and exploring what the city of Maastricht has to offer.

The journey started when I arrived at Chicago O Hare International Airport. There, I met up with a few other kids in the Maastricht study abroad program, and we ended up sitting on the plane together. We all tried to sleep, but due to the stark difference in time, the middle of the night in the Netherlands was only the early evening in the US. So we did not sleep on the flight. When we landed, we got through customs, got our bags, and met up with our Maastricht advisors and more students in the program. Meeting everyone that day was exciting; I was ready to have fun with them for the next four months. We boarded a bus to our guesthouse, where we would stay while in Maastricht. That was the only time that day I got natural sleep (I slept the entire three-hour bus ride. Once we got to Maastricht, we checked into the guesthouse and got the keys to our rooms. Spoiler alert, the rooms do not have air conditioning, but I will survive. The rest of the day was spent grocery shopping and finding places to eat around the city. The first day was long, but I soon became more comfortable in my setting. This was prevalent on day 2.

When trying to sleep on night 1, thoughts pondered in my head. Can I do this for four months? What if I don’t belong here? What if I don’t adjust to Dutch culture? These thoughts lingered in my head the entire night, but I soon realized this place was too easy to adapt to. This was the first anxiety that I overcame during this trip. Day 2 was when I began to feel at home in the Netherlands. It started with our group being led on a city tour, where I familiarized myself with the city and what it offers. We ended up eating at a place with the best bread, cheese, salad, and lemon pie I have ever had. After lunch, we went on a boat tour that took us to various caves (technically, they were mines) and explored the caves/mines. I was able to familiarize myself with the surroundings that day, and it made me feel like I was at home, even though I was across the ocean. The day did not end there, as some friends and I went to clubs and danced the night away in the pouring rain. It is only day 2, but my experiences here in Maastricht have been life-changing as they have opened the door to new experiences and taken me out of my comfort zone. An example of this came with going to clubs. I have never been good in crowds. I get nervous and scared as I feel like I am being suffocated. Last night, I overcame that fear because I was surrounded by friends who were having as good a time as me. This motivates me to overcome anxieties and step out of my comfort zone in Maastricht.