This fall, I will be leaving my home campus of Washington Square and spending my time in Paris, walking along the Seine while I try to make conversation in French and eat as many pastries as possible. I have never traveled for even close to this length-- a whole year!-- but I am excited to challenge myself and see what I can learn about myself.

That being said, there is a lot that I need to do, and while you would think I would be on top of my game (I am excited), I most certainly am not.

In fact, I may be the least on top of my game ever. I blame this past semester, my toughest at NYU thus far, for burning me out and making me ignore my email until the information is bursting out the seams. I blame airlines for being so expensive and making me anxious about paying for travel abroad. I blame the minimum wage for causing me to take on multiple jobs to pay my rent and save for Paris.

But I also blame myself for not being me, the typically organized and color-coded student who started papers a month before so that she could get feedback before it was due. (Is that nerdy? Sigh... I know it is.)

In summation, this past semester was hard and I ignored my NYU Paris checklist until deadlines passed and I had to be personally contacted.

How am I rectifying this situation? (After all, the visa process must be completed sometime this summer, so I can't rely on the 'everything will work out the way it's supposed to' vibe.)

By writing articles on how I'm preparing for my study abroad experience.

Well, I'm also making to-do lists and sticking to them (can you believe it). The pressure is also helpful.

Every day, I receive an email that adds a dollop of anxiety to my day.

"Have you applied for housing yet?"

"Have you submitted Campus France yet?"

"Have you applied for your Visa?"

The list could go on, but I'm actually hyperventilating.

The moral of the story is that you are doing fine, sweetie, if you're even one step ahead of me in your process of getting ready to study abroad. If you already have a packing list printed and ready to go? Then don't talk to me or my son ever again.