Across the Universe
Right now I’m sitting at JFK airport waiting to board my British Airways flight to London where I’ll begin my semester abroad. They want you to pay $9.95 for a day pass on the internet here, and as they begin boarding in about half an hour I’m not desperate enough to pay that, which means by the time this actually makes it online I’ll already be in England and settled into the home where I’ll be living these next few months. It’s really strange that this is already here; I remember sophomore year when I didn’t even think I was going to go abroad, then scrambling almost at the last minute to apply just in case I happened to change my mind. And I’m glad I did. It’s also strange that right now I feel fairly calm about the whole situation…I usually have a hard time leaving family at the airport just when I’m returning to Willamette, but I wasn’t really emotional about leaving this time. Maybe it’s because it still hasn’t really hit me yet, or because I’m leaving from a different airport and not from home, or because I said my goodbyes to my family in different places at different times (Dad at home and Mom and Katie here in NY) rather than all at once, but I’m hoping that means that I won’t have such a difficult time acclimating to my new surroundings and experiences after all. I do know, however, that it will be extremely difficult to adjust to the time difference and start school at 10 AM right away after six whole weeks of staying up/out until 3 or 4 in the morning and waking between 11 and noon. I kind of have a problem with sabotaging myself when it comes to establishing a sleeping pattern and getting a normal amount of sleep. But, I digress.
Even though I feel fine right now I have been nervous the past couple of weeks getting ready first for packing, then traveling to New York, and now getting to this point. I definitely am excited at the prospects of this semester, especially the opportunities I’ll have to see some of the world’s best art collections. I’m hoping that something will inspire me to formulate a thesis topic when I return to Willamette in the fall, since art history majors begin writing their thesis fall of senior year and have to have a good idea of their final topic at the beginning of the year. I’m hoping that I’ll also get to learn a little more about how museums and galleries operate in general, since I’ll be visiting them on a probably more than weekly basis (at least once a week as part of my class, and more on my own time). I really want to work toward a graduate degree (and, eventually, a PhD) and work in a museum like the National Gallery in D.C. (I love the Met in New York, but the more I visit NYC itself the less I feel like I would ever want to live there or in the surrounding areas). I think visiting different museums and galleries will give me a feel for what kind of career I ultimately want after completing more school and how I can work toward that career. It’s kind of exciting to be taking steps like that, and realize that I’m not that far away from graduating and moving on to getting my specialized degree(s).
Mostly, though, I really am looking forward to using this semester as a way to gauge how well I can adapt to living and attending school in a major city (well, I won’t be living in central London, but we’ll pretend) and to generally try to push myself out of my comfort zone and try new things. I remember my gifted/enriched teacher in elementary school always telling me that I needed to take more risks, but I realize that I haven’t been very good at living up to that. I think Willamette was the first big risk I took in terms of leaving my family and friends and going to a new school on my own where I knew nobody. It took about two whole years for me to truly adjust, and while I don’t completely love Salem and still sometimes get frustrated with Willamette, I have made some of the most amazing friends and learned so much, and am lucky to have found my place within the art history department both as a major and an employee. I only have 14 weeks in London and I really want to make the most of it and not be afraid to do new things. When I return home, I want to have a lot of things/places/people that I miss, but not have too many regrets in terms of places I wish I’d gone or things I wish I’d done.
It’s about 10 minutes away from boarding, so I’m going to leave off here, but next time I write (and, really, by the time I post this), it will be from London!
(this title courtesy of The Beatles)
