- Traveling is a mild nightmare. That being said, its only a nightmare when you haven't done it before and my trip home was much less stressful since I had mastered the trains, tubes, and airplanes.
- Jet Lag is worse than you could ever expect it to be. My first 24-48 hours in the U.K are a blur, I remember snapshots but not whole spaces of time. I was more tired than I had ever been in my life.
- Pack a little of everything because sometimes the country you're in switches seasons. You're going to want shorts and tank tops for the warm days and also pants plus coats for the days it drops down to 50 degrees F.
- Sunscreen is vital, unless you want to spend a ridiculous amount on a tiny tube of it. While in England, I received the worst sunburn of my entire life from just a few hours in Parkers Peace.
- Pick good roommates or get a room to yourself. During my time abroad I lived with two girls from my program, we had minor issues but I went in knowing them for almost a year and having already established good communication routes.
- Drinking is going to happen, by almost everyone on the trip. Just try to not let it bother you, I mean you're in a new country and you wont be there forever, its all a temporary situation.
- You probably underestimated how much money you would spend on almost everything. The exchange rate is killer in some countries but you can find cheaper options to help keep your cost down.
- Make friends not foes. This is something I learned the hard way, like I said before the situation you're in is temporary, enjoy your time and make a friend or two.
- It kind of takes forever to get anywhere or so it feels. I think I spent more time on the trains, tubes or walking somewhere than I did anything else. Thats okay though! It allowed for me to see more of the country I was in.
- The chance of you falling in love with the country you're in is high (or any other country you visit!) I know that while I was happy to go home, I'm missing England and Italy something fierce.
And thats all for this week,
Ms. Brookes