I’m thinking about it…I’m excited about it…oh, what a wonderful adventure I am about to embark on, greater than anything I’ve ever done before, I’m sure. I’ve wanted to go to Greece since I knew Greece existed. I’m not even really sure why, to be honest.
Everybody is really excited for me, too, and so jealous of me, and just itching to hear all about what a fantastic time I’m having…but hang on. Before I do that, we need a reality check.
Believe me, if you want to study abroad, prepare yourself for a lot of work. Prepare to make lists that organize EVERYTHING you need, because there is a TON. I had originally taken one look at the requirements just to be accepted as “study abroad-able,” and I thought, “Holy crap, I have to do all this in a month?” I had to make the effort to schedule appointments with teachers who I just assumed liked me, and with my academic advisor (only to realize that I’m so far along in my degree that I can take whatever I want in Greece), and a financial aid advisor…I had to get pictures, I had to get photocopies, I had to get a transcript, I had to bombard my teachers to write me letters of recommendation (and if you don’t mind me saying so, teachers should really relax about students turning in homework late…I kept tabs on when they wrote the letters and gave them back to me, and I can tell you, I noticed that they were REALLY close to the deadline)…not to mention that I needed to write essay upon essay upon essay to show why I want to study abroad, as if I needed a reason to go to GREECE. And then once I got accepted, which I never had any doubts about anyway, I had to do ANOTHER handful of paperwork for a student visa, which includes an FBI check and some really uninformative consulate workers, and attend the pre-departure orientation where they talked all about all the ways we could die while abroad…and something you really have to keep in mind is that no one buys your flight ticket for you. You have to buy a flight ticket (studentuniverse.com…). And now? Now I slave away scheduling classes, having been informed that I have to be approved for them, I can’t just enroll in them like I thought I could; and by the way, I really want (and by “want” I mean “need”) to spend my two-week spring break in Spain, so that’s a whole other story; and I feel like my school keeps giving me more and more things I have to pay for, and I don't know how to travel, and I have to grapple with the bank about how my pathetic amount of money is going to handle all the GREECE it’ll be spent on…
So yeah, I’m freaked out. Let me tell you. But there is still a whole lot of hope, everyone. Thank heaven for Pandora’s box.
I made a list of goals, and I intend to follow them. Here it is:
1. (as already stated) I WANT TO GO TO SPAIN FOR SPRING BREAK. I visited Spain last summer, but we didn’t really GO anywhere. Barcelona and the surrounding area is gorgeous and has the greatest buildings I’ve ever seen…but having spent a whole month in Spain and not venturing further than the northeast coast, I mean, come on.
2. I WANT MY SPANISH DRESS. I saw it there last summer, I didn’t get it because I thought I had no money…so as soon as I get back to Barcelona I’m going to get my Spanish dress. I expect it to be waiting for me and calling my name when it sees me.
3. I WANT AT LEAST ONE LASTING RELATIONSHIP. Even if it only lasts for a year or so, I’d love to know I made a good enough friend, Greek or American, to stay in touch with when I get back. I don’t deny it: I need people in my life. I want to know that I made friends in Greece!
4. I WANT TO SPEAK GREEK AS WELL AS I CURRENTLY SPEAK SPANISH. That’s not setting the standard very high. My Spanish is ridiculous. I can read and write it mostly fine, but can’t speak it fluently because I took Spanish for years in a Californian high school. And having just spent a month in Spain and still not being fluent? Yeah, this goal will be a piece of cake.
5. I WANT TO GO ALL OVER GREECE AND ALL OVER SPAIN. I know there is more to Greece than Athens. I need to get a Euro Rail pass before I leave, remind me.
6. I WANT TO BE LESS STRESSED ABOUT FINANCES WHEN I RETURN. Because right now, I feel almost schizophrenic: I feel like everyone is out to steal my money and prevent me from going to Spain! My current roommate, here in Flagstaff, never seems to keep the money she makes for very long, and she’s never as freaked out as I am when I spend five dollars on lunch. And I’m in Greece for crying out loud, I’m going to be spending! I’m going to be buying Mediterranean food ALL THE TIME. And just because I’m getting my Spanish dress doesn’t mean I can’t get a Greek one. So wish me luck with not stressing out about money.
7. I WANT A GOOD PART OF MY TOURING TO BE BASED ON SITES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY. It’s always hard to know where to tour without feeling like a complete tourist. But mythology and religion, studying them, are hobbies of mine, and I’m truly interested in where the ancients were traveling and doing things in those days.
8. I WANT TO ENGAGE IN PHILOSOPHY CLASS DISCUSSIONS. This is something I need to work on in the States, too. I’m not nervy enough, I think. But now it’s time to give my teachers something to remember me by.
9. I WANT TO BE ATHLETIC. IT’S GREECE. There’s a dance club on campus that I’m hoping to join. But I used to be a pole vaulter back in the good old days when high school coaches didn’t screw athletes over by ditching practice and saying there’s no money (I’m still really bitter about this)! I also told someone I highly respect that I’d run a marathon before I die…so, you know. Spartathlon, anyone? WOOOO!
10. I WANT TO TAKE AS MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO GO OUT AND DO SOMETHING AS I CAN, BUT I WANT TO MAINTAIN A HOLD ON WHAT I WANT. Better put, I don’t want to party. I know there’s a Greek night life—there’s a night life everywhere, and I’m never going to escape it, ever. So because there’s a night life everywhere, it is not a multicultural activity, and therefore not something I should mix myself up in for the sake of “enjoying my trip.” Somebody said something like that to me while I was in Spain, that I should be “enjoying my trip” more, and now that I think back on it, I really should have punched that guy. Here in the States, I HATE parties, I hate alcohol even more than I hate partying, and I will NOT be peer-pressured into any of that in Greece. Besides, when your insomnia is as bad as mine, you know that NIGHTS ARE FOR SLEEPING.
There you all are!
Everybody is really excited for me, too, and so jealous of me, and just itching to hear all about what a fantastic time I’m having…but hang on. Before I do that, we need a reality check.
Believe me, if you want to study abroad, prepare yourself for a lot of work. Prepare to make lists that organize EVERYTHING you need, because there is a TON. I had originally taken one look at the requirements just to be accepted as “study abroad-able,” and I thought, “Holy crap, I have to do all this in a month?” I had to make the effort to schedule appointments with teachers who I just assumed liked me, and with my academic advisor (only to realize that I’m so far along in my degree that I can take whatever I want in Greece), and a financial aid advisor…I had to get pictures, I had to get photocopies, I had to get a transcript, I had to bombard my teachers to write me letters of recommendation (and if you don’t mind me saying so, teachers should really relax about students turning in homework late…I kept tabs on when they wrote the letters and gave them back to me, and I can tell you, I noticed that they were REALLY close to the deadline)…not to mention that I needed to write essay upon essay upon essay to show why I want to study abroad, as if I needed a reason to go to GREECE. And then once I got accepted, which I never had any doubts about anyway, I had to do ANOTHER handful of paperwork for a student visa, which includes an FBI check and some really uninformative consulate workers, and attend the pre-departure orientation where they talked all about all the ways we could die while abroad…and something you really have to keep in mind is that no one buys your flight ticket for you. You have to buy a flight ticket (studentuniverse.com…). And now? Now I slave away scheduling classes, having been informed that I have to be approved for them, I can’t just enroll in them like I thought I could; and by the way, I really want (and by “want” I mean “need”) to spend my two-week spring break in Spain, so that’s a whole other story; and I feel like my school keeps giving me more and more things I have to pay for, and I don't know how to travel, and I have to grapple with the bank about how my pathetic amount of money is going to handle all the GREECE it’ll be spent on…
So yeah, I’m freaked out. Let me tell you. But there is still a whole lot of hope, everyone. Thank heaven for Pandora’s box.
I made a list of goals, and I intend to follow them. Here it is:
1. (as already stated) I WANT TO GO TO SPAIN FOR SPRING BREAK. I visited Spain last summer, but we didn’t really GO anywhere. Barcelona and the surrounding area is gorgeous and has the greatest buildings I’ve ever seen…but having spent a whole month in Spain and not venturing further than the northeast coast, I mean, come on.
2. I WANT MY SPANISH DRESS. I saw it there last summer, I didn’t get it because I thought I had no money…so as soon as I get back to Barcelona I’m going to get my Spanish dress. I expect it to be waiting for me and calling my name when it sees me.
3. I WANT AT LEAST ONE LASTING RELATIONSHIP. Even if it only lasts for a year or so, I’d love to know I made a good enough friend, Greek or American, to stay in touch with when I get back. I don’t deny it: I need people in my life. I want to know that I made friends in Greece!
4. I WANT TO SPEAK GREEK AS WELL AS I CURRENTLY SPEAK SPANISH. That’s not setting the standard very high. My Spanish is ridiculous. I can read and write it mostly fine, but can’t speak it fluently because I took Spanish for years in a Californian high school. And having just spent a month in Spain and still not being fluent? Yeah, this goal will be a piece of cake.
5. I WANT TO GO ALL OVER GREECE AND ALL OVER SPAIN. I know there is more to Greece than Athens. I need to get a Euro Rail pass before I leave, remind me.
6. I WANT TO BE LESS STRESSED ABOUT FINANCES WHEN I RETURN. Because right now, I feel almost schizophrenic: I feel like everyone is out to steal my money and prevent me from going to Spain! My current roommate, here in Flagstaff, never seems to keep the money she makes for very long, and she’s never as freaked out as I am when I spend five dollars on lunch. And I’m in Greece for crying out loud, I’m going to be spending! I’m going to be buying Mediterranean food ALL THE TIME. And just because I’m getting my Spanish dress doesn’t mean I can’t get a Greek one. So wish me luck with not stressing out about money.
7. I WANT A GOOD PART OF MY TOURING TO BE BASED ON SITES FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY. It’s always hard to know where to tour without feeling like a complete tourist. But mythology and religion, studying them, are hobbies of mine, and I’m truly interested in where the ancients were traveling and doing things in those days.
8. I WANT TO ENGAGE IN PHILOSOPHY CLASS DISCUSSIONS. This is something I need to work on in the States, too. I’m not nervy enough, I think. But now it’s time to give my teachers something to remember me by.
9. I WANT TO BE ATHLETIC. IT’S GREECE. There’s a dance club on campus that I’m hoping to join. But I used to be a pole vaulter back in the good old days when high school coaches didn’t screw athletes over by ditching practice and saying there’s no money (I’m still really bitter about this)! I also told someone I highly respect that I’d run a marathon before I die…so, you know. Spartathlon, anyone? WOOOO!
10. I WANT TO TAKE AS MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO GO OUT AND DO SOMETHING AS I CAN, BUT I WANT TO MAINTAIN A HOLD ON WHAT I WANT. Better put, I don’t want to party. I know there’s a Greek night life—there’s a night life everywhere, and I’m never going to escape it, ever. So because there’s a night life everywhere, it is not a multicultural activity, and therefore not something I should mix myself up in for the sake of “enjoying my trip.” Somebody said something like that to me while I was in Spain, that I should be “enjoying my trip” more, and now that I think back on it, I really should have punched that guy. Here in the States, I HATE parties, I hate alcohol even more than I hate partying, and I will NOT be peer-pressured into any of that in Greece. Besides, when your insomnia is as bad as mine, you know that NIGHTS ARE FOR SLEEPING.
There you all are!
And what is it that I really want? Well, I do very much expect this trip to change my life. I expect to become more confident as an independent traveler, going down the roads I WANT to go down and developing the philosophical spirit that I know I have. It’s deep. It’s real.
