(Editors note: Sorry about not finishing my Ireland blog. I got swamped with school at the end of the semester and then it ended...and I moved...and then something else rather surprisingly happened...and now I'm leaving again. So it just never happened. Sorry! I plan on returning very soon so I promise to blog on that trip.)
I must say, I am insanely calm despite the fact that I am leaving the United States in two days. For those who know me, this isn’t usual. I’m seriously acting as if I’m merely going to one state over when really, I’ll be across the Atlantic in the United Kingdom for one month. Normally, I would be freaking out. I mean, I really should be freaking out. I shouldn’t be able to sleep at night due to excitement. I should be looking up every possible library/archive that I will be visiting. I should be planning all of my weekends and evenings. I should be worried about everything that could but probably won’t go wrong. This is what old Kate would be doing. However, it seems that Kate is now laid back about life. She’s mellowed in her old age and has learned how to go with the flow.
Right now, I’m positive you're rocking back and forth and muttering, Inconceivable. (In the most non-crazy way.) Well, I'm not sure how or when it happened but sometime in the past month or two, I’ve become more relaxed and laid back about life. It’s all too short to worry about all the minute details. And in the end, all the major ones get done. I’ve just somehow learned not to stress too much about it. NBD kids. I’m handling everything with extreme ease. Packing? Yeah it will get done. I made a list. I’ll be fine. I'm sure you have questions. Such as, will she have to resort to working the corner in Piccadilly Circus to pay for food and booze? Not at all. I'm totally flush with cash, being a grad student and all. (but really, I am good with money. I will not resort to such illegal activities and be forthwith deported.) How will I communicate, you ask? I got Skype working and I’ll get myself a phone in the UK to call people I meet while I’m there. Homework? Well, I have one of my book reviews done and I finished reading the second book. It’s not due until Thursday. It will get done. And it's a library science course - it shouldn't be too difficult.
Still, this trip to England is a pretty big thing. And since I’ve just rambled for two paragraphs, I guess it’s about time that I actually explain what I’ve been alluding to above. Back in January, I discovered a Study Abroad program through the University of Southern Mississippi. Their “British Studies Program” takes a large contingent of students across the pond to study and live in England for a month. When I saw that there was a library science component, I knew I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. I would be able to visit libraries and archives in England and Scotland? Sounds like a dream month. I applied, was accepted, and have been slowly preparing for my trip since April.
Well April quickly turned into May and then June and now my departure is finally here. On Thursday night, I will fly out of Dulles International Airport and by Friday morning, I will have arrived in Foggy London town. For roughly a month, I will live in the dorms at King’s College in London. The course takes us to different libraries and archives in London and the surrounding region. After two weeks, we pack our bags and head to Scotland for three days. Then I have a five day mini-break where I can go wherever I wish. My goal is to visit Germany, Austria, and/or the Czech Republic. Then it’s back to London for the last week of classes, final exams, some Olympic celebrations, and then I’m back in D.C. on Saturday morning July 28th.
It will be a whirlwind and I’m asking all of you to join me on it. I’ll be blogging in two different blogs. One will be for the University of Southern Mississippi and then my personal blog. (Here is the link to my first blog entry for USM: http://blogs.usm.edu/blogging-abroad/2012/06/19/there-and-back-again-a-grad-students-tale/ I'll try to remember to link that one to this one as well). There may actually be a third blog, for my actual course, but I will know more about that when I arrive. Suffice it to say, I will be writing a lot. And I plan on keeping a journal, as well as sending lots of emails to friends and family. So expect to hear much more from me in the coming weeks. And this blog will be much more interesting and open than the school one…..I don’t have to be politically correct on this one :) And I promise to have lots of hilarious stories….or at least I promise to make some up if nothing funny happens. (I also promise to refrain from talking in the third person).
See you on the other side!
- Kate
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