Tomorrow afternoon, I get on an airplane in Chicago. Thursday afternoon, I land in Athens, and my program begins. My finals are finished, I'm moved out of the dorm, my suitcase and carry-on are all packed, and I'm finishing up the last minute preparations before leaving the U.S. for three months. Mostly, I'm excited: I've never left the country before, with the exception of a trip to Canada when I was 3. I've also never flown fully across an ocean; I've flown 6 hours to Hawaii, but that was only halfway across the Pacific. And I've definitely never spent 13 hours in an airplane, which is what I'll be doing over the next few days. It will be an... interesting experience. But then I will be in a new culture, full of new sights and sounds and tastes, well outside anything I've ever experienced while traveling inside of America.
I'm nervous as well, though, for pretty much all the same reasons I'm excited. I don't know much Greek, I've never been outside of the U.S, and I'm really not at all sure what to expect. I have no idea what these new experiences will do to change my perspective on the world and my ability to understand and communicate with different people. It's well out of my comfort zone, and that's scary. But, overall, I think it will be good for me. I enjoy challenges: they push me to new levels, stretch the limits of what I can do. The next three months will be no exception.
Wish me luck, and I'll see you again when I'm on the other side of the world!
Αντίο για τώρα!
I'm nervous as well, though, for pretty much all the same reasons I'm excited. I don't know much Greek, I've never been outside of the U.S, and I'm really not at all sure what to expect. I have no idea what these new experiences will do to change my perspective on the world and my ability to understand and communicate with different people. It's well out of my comfort zone, and that's scary. But, overall, I think it will be good for me. I enjoy challenges: they push me to new levels, stretch the limits of what I can do. The next three months will be no exception.
Wish me luck, and I'll see you again when I'm on the other side of the world!
Αντίο για τώρα!
