I'm studying abroad and I'm absolutely terrified.

After the multiple terrorist attacks in the last year, many would think that would be the main reason I'm afraid to move across the country.

But terrorism happens everywhere. Bad things happen everywhere. There isn't any use fearing terrorism when the crime in New York City has been in your backyard since the age of 4.

Some may think I'm afraid of adjusting culturally. I speak advanced French at best -- I'm definitely not fluent enough to be dropped in the middle of Paris and find my own way home.

But that's not it either. So many college students from the United States study abroad which gives me the confidence to believe I'll be OK.

So aside from flying, which is a larger fear in itself, what am I so afraid of? What has me rethinking my decision every time I sign another financial aid paper?

Studying abroad means leaving two homes that I've grown comfortable with -- my home on Long Island and my home at St. Bonaventure.

At St. Bonaventure, I wake up in an apartment with roommates that act as my sister, mother and occasional therapist. I go to classes with the same group of people I've known since freshman year. I've had the same French professor every semester since freshman year. I can walk into any journalism professor's office on any given day without making an appointment and they not only know me by name, but we can chat casually.

At home, I wake up in a house with my family and my two dogs. I drive the same road to work every single day. I eat at the same local restaurants when I come home from school. I see the same people I went to high school with working at the grocery store or the gym or the mall.

It's familiar. It's comfortable.

France is not. It's making new friends in a country I've never stayed in. It's learning how to navigate in a foreign language. It's finding new restaurants to eat at or a new coffee shop to stop at before classes. It's balancing courses taught in French while maintaining good grades and exploring my surroundings. It's new. It's exciting. But it's also terrifying.

Leaving the comfort of home is a terrifying experience. Many students feel that discomfort while lying in their new bedrooms at college the first day of freshman year.

But for most college students, family is, at most, a quick plane ride away.

Family is two connecting flights, and an hour and a half car ride away from France.

Studying abroad will be an exciting experience, and one that I'm grateful to have. But it will also be, by far, the most terrifying experience I've ever had.