My Study Abroad Experience...Part one 'From Norfolk To New York'

"Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world" Gustave Flaubert

Hello Everybody! I thought it would be good to switch things up and tell you all about my University and Study Abroad experience! Instead of writing about it all in one hit, I'm going to split it up and write a post about it each week, because if I just wrote about it all at once this would be one super long post! Im going to also offer tips and tricks of surviving Uni and my time abroad, So I hope you all enjoy it.

I personally feel like travelling should apart of everyones lives. You can find out so much about the way the world works and the lifestyles they lead, but most importantly you can learn a great deal about yourself. 

Whilst finishing up my first years which was tumultuous to say the least ( I will be covering this in a later post), I visited a study abroad fair, there were around 30 booths filled with information on different schools you could go to and each had hundreds of courses you could choose from. I was drawn to two booths in particular, that for a few schools in the United States and the second was for Bond University in Australia. I picked up some pamphlets and once I got back to my room flicked through the pages at what they had to offer. When it came down to a few weeks before the application end date I decided to fill out an application and just see what happens. I went about my life, attending classes, shopping and ferociously refreshing Facebook to catch the latest argument or tit bit of gossip. In no way shape or form believe that I of all people would even have crossed their minds in offering me a place, thats when I got the email...

I really was in a state of shock and had a mixture of emotions, did I really want to go? Would I like it? Isn't New York hundreds of miles away? Who will do my washing? you know the usual. I still remember the phone call to my mum where the tone of my voice portrayed that something awful had happened but infact I had been offered this huge opportunity. My mum was really the person that convinced me to go, I mean I never thought I would have been chosen and my first year at Uni hadn't been too good, and I'm so thankful she did. 

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Looking at the Study Abroad start pack truly frightened me there were all these warnings like "Under no circumstances get on a bus" and "do not engage with anyone" they were really trying to psych us out. It also had this huge guide on what we needed all of which I ended up taking and none of which I really needed! It was starting to become real in less than 2 weeks I would be on a plane heading across the Atlantic to the Big Apple, a place I had never been and a place I knew only from the sitcom Friends and some travel guides I purchased, but it wasn't until I got there that I discovered what it was really about. 

Boarding the plane was a nightmare, I had never travelled by plane before so had no idea on what you could carry on and what you couldn't so the entirety of my makeup collection and shampoos etc were thrown away right in front of me (to say I shed a tear is an understatement). However hard that was saying goodbye to my Mum and Cousin was by far the worst, it was so strange that I wouldn't be seeing them daily but thanks to the wonders of technology at least I could Skype. Once I was on the plane I was sat next to a woman basketball teams whose legs were so long they were pushing mine into a little gap in-between the chairs which wasn't comfortable at all. Luckily I slept through most of my flights (I stopped off in Dublin First) and arrived at JFK Airport without a glitch, although my luggage took forever to come!

I was greeted at the airport by two students from Adelphi who as part of the study abroad organisation on campus came and kindly picked us up with one of the Adelphi school buses. They were both so kind and obsessed with my accent which I found so strange but were really helpful in answering my questions about Adelphi and New York in general (although I feel they had more questions for me about the UK). All around me were American accents and thats the moment I finally realised where I was and where I would be for the next year, it felt so real at that moment and I still remember it like it was yesterday.

We had to drive to the next terminal to pick up two other students who were travelling in from Belarus and Russia, their names were Vlad and Polina and were so friendly and just as in awe at everything as I was. We all got chatting and were asking each other questions about our countries and lives in general. What I find most amusing is that if you would have said to me that I would have hung out with them after, I wouldn't have believed you. However Polina to this day is one of the most amazing people I've ever met and still is one of my best friends and one of the people I spent most my time with over there, and one of the reasons I had such a fantastic time.

The bus pulled up to Adelphi and I was amazed at how beautiful everything was the buildings were so beautiful and the grounds were bursting with flowers and looming trees, there was something so unique about it and something I loved instantly....

xoxoxo