Four years ago, I was packing to go to England and start my study abroad year at the University of East Anglia in Norwich. Two years ago, I was once more headed to England to study, this time for my master's degree at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. Now, I hold a visa in my hand, granted for four and a half years in order to complete a PhD at the University of Chichester in Chichester, West Sussex.
This blog was never properly kept up, for various reasons. At first, I wanted it to help keep a record of what I was doing abroad for my family's sake. But every so often I go back and read some of those posts from the first few days of my life abroad. Things are so different now - I'm not engaged anymore (but neither am I married, so that should speak for itself about that). I want to go into academia, not publishing. British things are no longer "new" - total, I've lived in the UK for almost three years. But why miss out on writing about the things I'll be doing in a new city and in a new program? I wish I had written more during my time in Cambridge, so it's only fair that I give Chichester the same try. Third time is the charm, right?
So here's what I'm doing now to prepare to leave: not much. I keep meaning to pack, of course, and I will get around to it (I mean, I leave in thirteen days, I can probably afford to spend some time packing!). But unlike that first go around four years ago, the butterflies aren't doing flips in my stomach. England is familiar and beloved to me. I miss it, like I miss Tucson when I'm in the UK. It's just that I no longer have the fear that I'm not capable of moving to a new country, or that things will be too different for me to handle, or that I don't have enough practice being independent. I get nervous once in a while, yeah. I got very homesick last time. It was rough going through a break-up when my best friends and family were so far away. But all told, things worked out beautifully. I started producing my best creative work ever. I started on a research path for something I'm incredibly passionate about. I fell in love with the city of Cambridge (and, after some healing, yes, another Brit ;P).
Thirteen days. Beginning this journey again. It's all the same and all different. But it's going to be amazing, I can tell.
This blog was never properly kept up, for various reasons. At first, I wanted it to help keep a record of what I was doing abroad for my family's sake. But every so often I go back and read some of those posts from the first few days of my life abroad. Things are so different now - I'm not engaged anymore (but neither am I married, so that should speak for itself about that). I want to go into academia, not publishing. British things are no longer "new" - total, I've lived in the UK for almost three years. But why miss out on writing about the things I'll be doing in a new city and in a new program? I wish I had written more during my time in Cambridge, so it's only fair that I give Chichester the same try. Third time is the charm, right?
So here's what I'm doing now to prepare to leave: not much. I keep meaning to pack, of course, and I will get around to it (I mean, I leave in thirteen days, I can probably afford to spend some time packing!). But unlike that first go around four years ago, the butterflies aren't doing flips in my stomach. England is familiar and beloved to me. I miss it, like I miss Tucson when I'm in the UK. It's just that I no longer have the fear that I'm not capable of moving to a new country, or that things will be too different for me to handle, or that I don't have enough practice being independent. I get nervous once in a while, yeah. I got very homesick last time. It was rough going through a break-up when my best friends and family were so far away. But all told, things worked out beautifully. I started producing my best creative work ever. I started on a research path for something I'm incredibly passionate about. I fell in love with the city of Cambridge (and, after some healing, yes, another Brit ;P).
Thirteen days. Beginning this journey again. It's all the same and all different. But it's going to be amazing, I can tell.
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