Six Days Too Soon

When the question arises of, "Are you ready for your trip?" my answer is always yes, but that's from an "I've been at home too long and am ready to go again," perspective not a practical perspective. In truth, I have more to do than I have time for.

I spent about three hours cleaning my room today so that I would have more space to pack. The cleaning was really more like rearranging my collection of "stuff." I moved unimportant objects from point A to B and realized in the process that I have more possessions than I will ever use in a lifetime or have any right to own. The sad thing is that it all fits into one room and still I feel cluttered. I began to realize today that material objects aren't as crucial to one's existence as I first thought, and I'm sure that this opinion will only increase upon my return. Therefore, I am announcing my first master plan. I've never really be one for master plans, mainly because I'm too spontaneous, but I'm determined to follow through with this one. When I come back for Christmas break I plan to clean out, throw away, organize, and down size. The way I see it, if I haven't used it in four months I don't need it. It will be a transition from a junk filled, cluttered life to a simpler existence, I hope.

I am slowly beginning to warm up to the idea of taking only two bags to Swansea. I talked to my sister again today and she said to only pack the backpack and leave the suitcase about half empty to allow for room to bring things back. At first, I was a little worried about her idea. How would I make that work? Then I began collecting clothes and other items for the trip and it turns out that I was right, my pile is small. In fact, I didn't have enough clothes! How insane is that? I know you're probably thinking, "Okay if she doesn't have enough clothes for four months then what has she been wearing?" The problem is that in the winter I wear mainly sweaters, big ones. I hate cold weather so I typically try to keep as many fibers between it and me as possible. I can't take any of my sweaters with me though because two of them alone would fill up one bag so I had to find an alternative. My mom and I made what had to be the world's fastest trip to Old Navy. In fifteen minutes of running, sliding, and heavy breathing we managed to find six long sleeve shirts, two t-shirts, and one tank top. I have one word for you novice travelers out there, onion. That's my two cents worth of advice for tonight, dress in layers. That was probably the one useful thing that I learned in Girl Scouts.

Anyways, the packing is now officially under way but tomorrow won't see much progress because I'm going to Chattanooga for the day to visit friends and get one last glimpse of the American college life to compare with the Welsh version. I will probably be getting up well before the sunrise, something I should do more often, and going to bed long after it has. They are an hour ahead there which makes getting there before classes start a real pain but I'll make it. Its my nap time now so I'm off to bed and looking forward to an independent day with old friends.

Seven Days And Too Much Stuff!!

First off I must apologize for this entry being a day late but like they say "better late than never." This is crazy. I leave in exactly one week for four months away from home and I'm completely relaxed! I feel like I should be getting at least a little nervous but no, there are no such feelings to be had. It will probably occur to me on the way to the airport. I usually don't fly much and the three times that I have I was traveling by myself or with school and for some reason the moment that reality hits me in the face always seems to be while sitting in traffic near Briley Parkway on the way to the Nashville airport. Oh well, seven days to reality then.

So the packing didn't quite go as well as I had hoped. I called my sister to get a little advice about how to pack for four months of fall and winter with only two bags. She said to pull everything I want to take out of my closet, make a pile, and then cut the pile in half and what's left is what goes...right. I think its good advice, really I do, but I don't think that my pile is going to be all that big, but we'll wait and see, I'm probably wrong. I didn't get very far into it before my parents got home from work and decided that we needed to take my dog to the vet. My dad was busy and couldn't take her so of course my mom and I went. Goodbye packing I'll catch up with you tomorrow. We get back from the vet about thirty minutes later and my parents decide to go out to dinner. We had a nice time and the food was good but I needed to be at home doing other things.

Tomorrow the packing continues. While digging through my closet today I began to wonder why I decided to study abroad and then I remembered, I love a good challenge and its six thousand miles away. One more down, six to go.

A Sunrise And The Xerox Machine

I finally did it. I got up much too early this morning and I got a front row seat for the sunrise. Of course the trees were in the way so I didn't actually get to see much of it! I guess that's the price I have to pay for living in Franklin instead of Florida like I'd like to. Although the last sunrise I saw wasn't on the beach it was still rewarding because I got to see it while rowing on the Tennessee River. If you have ever seen a water-colored sunrise, even from a rowing shell on a polluted river, you would understand the allure. I'm still amazed at the simple fact that I was up at six a.m. to see it, trees and all.

My excuse for being up that early, as for all things lately, was of course Wales. As I mentioned in my last post I had to go to my mom's office this morning to make copies of important documents. These included the usual: credit cards, birth certificate, insurance card, passport, driver's license, and social security card. Then of course there were the semi-unusual things like: my international student identification card (ISIC, I would recommend it for anyone who is a student or considered a youth going over seas), my acceptance letter to the university, immunization records, and the letter from the university with my mailing address. Fortunately, the copier actually cooperated and I was in and out in about thirty minutes including about fifteen minutes of being introduced to my mom's co-workers as "the daughter going to Wales." It is one of the few labels, or perhaps titles, that I have accepted willingly in recent years. I'm used to introductions that end with "the (our) youngest," so as long as the last word is Wales or Swansea I'm happy.

It was very strange to tell people that I was leaving next Tuesday. As my sister said, it probably won't sink in that I'm living over seas until I've been there ten days. Her and I both traveled to Europe for about ten days each when we were in high school and she claims that its on the tenth day, when you expect to be at the airport but are at the dorms instead, that the realization really sets in. We'll just have to find out once I'm over there.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I took about a two hour nap as a reward for getting up so early this morning and I went for one last drive on the Natchez Trace. For anyone who doesn't know, the Natchez Trace was originally a trail that connected Nashville, Tennessee with Natchez, Mississippi. Now there is a federal parkway that follows the same ridge that the original trail did. In fact, some parts of the trail are still accessible and are used for hiking and horse back riding. Its kind of in the middle of no where and I've always liked joy riding out there with the windows down so I went for one last drive this afternoon. Aside from getting rained on some it was pleasant. Not much else happened once I got home. We just got a lot of thunderstorms which are supposed to last throughout the night.

Tomorrow I hope to begin packing. I'm dreading it and evidently I've been putting it off but it is time to do the deed and get it over with. Its going to take a while though. I have to find a way to live out of a backpack and one large suite case for four months. Wish me luck!

A Day Well Wasted

I am happy to announce that I did absolutely nothing to prepare for the trip today. It may seem a little strange to be nine days from departure and not packing or panicking but I needed a break, desperately. I've been eating and sleeping with the idea of this tip and all that needs to be done looming over me for about five months now. So I took a day off.

I did everything else though. I was lazy until about two o'clock this afternoon and then my dad and I went canoeing for an hour at Long Hunter State Park. We thought about going fishing but changed our minds before we even got there seeing as how neither of us had a license. It was a good thing that we wanted to go canoeing because the fishing boats don't have trolling motors anymore. Apparently the state can't afford them but we did get some laughs while watching several people in a couple of different fishing boats try and paddle around the lake. Canoes are definitely much more efficient and more fun.

Yesterday was my last day of work for the summer!! Tonight we all went out to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant to celebrate a co-workers birthday. Aside from several embarrassing pictures though (someone had a new camera) a good time was had by all.

Tomorrow I begin the get ready to go process all over again. I'm going to work with my mom to make copies of important documents like birth certificates and passports. I lead an invigorating life, I know, but other than that its an unplanned day. I'll tell you the details later. Nine days and counting...

T-Minus Ten Days!

You know that feeling you get the night before you leave on a week long vacation when you're in a mad panic and rushing around the house trying to pack and think of last minute things to do. There's the midnight run to Wal-Mart and the question of what to do with the dog. Yes, I've officially arrived at the point of no return and the momentary panic of waking up one day closer to life in Wales. I have done so much to get ready but, as always, it seems like the more I do the longer my list becomes. I already own a passport so that hurtle is out of the way but then there are things like paperwork, getting credit cards, calling the bank to tell them that I will be out of the country, absentee voting, booking a flight, buying a BritRail Pass, making hostel reservations in London, creating this blog, and a whole slew of other details too extensive to mention here.

There was one major administrative dilemma that I did run into. Please take the following as a word of caution if you are planning at any time to travel abroad through a University or other academic institution. For anyone who has recently begun reading and doesn't know me, my hometown is in Franklin, Tn. about thirty minutes South of Nashville. I attend school at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The program that I am going to Wales with is organized and operated by the study abroad office at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. So here's the situation...I am one student who attends one UT school and wishes to study abroad through another UT school. So far we have one student and two schools involved. Try to stay with me on this. The question is how to get my student loan from UTC to UTK. This should be easy but of course nothing that involves the state ever is. I receive a letter in the mail from UTC with my express statement of fees and a place for me to sign saying that I accept my student loan and agree to have it sent to them. I do sign the letter and send it back. Then we call UTC's bursar to notify them of my trip and we ask them to send the loan to UTK to pay for the program fees. UTC says no can do and my troubles begin. They told me to call the lender to have them switch the receiving school because UTC claims that they can't do it. We call the lender and they tell me that they can't in fact change the receiving school and that the problem will have to be worked out between the universities. Great. Finally, we call UTK and explain the situation. Their study abroad office then kindly calls the UTC study abroad office and after an afternoon of debating it is decided that my refund check from UTC will be sent to me and then I will deposit it and send a new check to UTK for the program fees. In short, if you ever find yourself in this unfortunate predicament leave the lender out of it and get the two schools on a conference call, with any luck all problems will be solved within five minutes. A great thanks is due to the UTK study abroad office for their help and patience.

Moving on to other things, yesterday we went to the airport and picked up a few British pounds to last me through the first day or two seeing as I won't even make it to Swansea until the sixth. The beauty of this program is that unlike with ISEP and other agencies I'm not going by myself. Accompanying me on this trip will be about fifteen other UTK students and a UTK professor. I am flying into London with one other student and we plan to spend our first night in London before catching the train to Swansea on the seventh.

So that's where I'm currently at in my preparation process. I'll keep you updated on my ever extending list of things to do. Also, last night I saw on the news that about five flights were either diverted or delayed. On that note, perhaps I should go back to the airport and pick up a few Euros, just in case. Right now I'm just trying to make it through the next ten days. I'll worry about the flight some other time.

Eleven Days To The Other Side!

That's right, in eleven days I'm flying to the other side of the big pond. It is the purpose of this blog to record the experience and keep you updated on my travels.

On September 5, 2006 I will be leaving the States for a four month semester at the University of Wales, Swansea in the U.K. I will be attending school full time and hopefully traveling extensively on the weekends. Other than that, I'm not sure what to expect but hopefully it will be interesting.

Everyone is welcome here so visit often and please leave comments!