There are many things that I could never have expected in my life. I could never have expected to fall off the bleachers when I was little. I could never have expected to have chronic back pain for a majority of my life. I could never have expected meeting the people who are my best friends and made the most difference in my life. I could never have expected how important music would be in my life. There have been so many things in my life that I was not ready for, nor did I think could possibly happen to me. However, I am currently on the verge of the biggest adventure of my life, and I have no idea what to expect.
I go to school at Central College in Pella, Iowa. There, we have a wonderful study abroad program where I can spend a whole semester in another country. I have had my eye on this experience since before I applied to college. Last semester, I was accepted into the London program for this fall and I thought my heart would stop from excitement! I jumped up and down in my dorm and told everyone I knew that I was going to London. I wanted to know everything I could and start planning everything out before I could get there. However, recently, a new feeling has started setting in. There is a final realization that in less than two months I will be boarding my first flight since childhood and setting off to live in a new country for four and a half months, by myself.
I have gone on many trips with my family or with groups from school. I love traveling already, but I have never left the country or been away for so long. The idea of living in another country, studying, having an internship and traveling around Europe was the most exciting thing I could imagine happening to me. However, now that it is getting closer, the butterflies have landed in my stomach with no intention to leave.
Everyone around me is excited for me, saying they are jealous they can’t go too. Friends that have already studied abroad try to give the best advice they can to ease those butterflies. But, try as they might, the butterflies are here to stay. The best advice someone told me they could give me was to stop trying to plan my adventure, and stop trying to expect what can’t be expected. What kind of advice is that? Don’t these people know that I am a Type A kind of person who needs those plans? How am I supposed to turn all of that off and accept the fact that I cannot expect the unexpected?
I still don’t have all the answers. Everyone tells me that I will become a different person after traveling on my own for the first time. So what can I tell future me? Should I have a thought-provoking quote on hand to remind myself in times when I am nervous? Even if I cannot plan for the unexpected I can remember what Elbert Hubbard said: “The biggest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you’ll make one.” Maybe I should listen to Hubbard’s wise words and be open for my mistakes, shortcomings, adventures, and everything unexpected that is coming for me in my semester abroad.
