The Night Before Departure

Today is my last day and it is painful. The last couple of weeks I have been fighting to come up with some way to stay in this wonderful country. I have never been happier than I have been in London. The homesickness I feel is nothing in comparison to the sadness that is overwhelming me at the thought of going back to the mediocre life I left behind.



I feel, I don’t know, I suppose I feel very cosmopolitan and adult flitting from north to south London. Meeting people from all over Europe rather than from my state or other states. I feel that I have learned more in almost four months than in my entire life. My eyes have been opened to the narrowness that Americans live in. Granted I do not believe that it is necessarily our fault that we think this way. The United States is huge. Travelling toward the east coast is a feat in and of itself.



Right now I hate the idea of leaving all of this behind to look for a job in Olympia. They warned me that I would feel this way. They warned me that this would become my new normal. I’m meant to go home and find a job and live out my life there?



My emotions are not mixed like the others. I’m absolutely certain that I want to come back here and live out the rest of my life. I want this diversity. It is a struggle to find the words without tears accompanying it. I have never felt closer to my flat mates than the night before departure. We can barely hold it together around each other when one of us voices our pain. I will miss the bus, the sweltering heat of the tube, the English electronic voice that accompanies all travel within the city, I will miss the shear grandeur, the lifestyle, the amazing food!



Hello from the future! Reading this now almost six months later is bittersweet. I remember this feeling now and it is still inside me. I yearn to return but it isn’t my end goal anymore. I couldn’t find a way back and all signs point toward living here. I will live and work here and try to make a life for myself. I thought I felt bad before leaving but it was nothing in comparison to the depression that took over after I arrived back in my home town.

The Week Before Departure

The Week Before



In one weeks’ time I will begin my journey abroad studying in London, England. I have spent every possible moment since the New Year working towards this goal and it is finally here. Dreaming of Yorkshire pudding, views from the London eye, and afternoon tea are common pastimes of mine. I'm an avid fan of vloggers with a special place in my heart for those British vloggers most seem to know and love.



I have to admit that I am almost sick with nerves as the departure date approaches. I am not even sure exactly which aspect scares me so much. Perhaps it is just the entire trip itself and therefore difficult to pinpoint.



I did everything I was supposed to, I have lists, and everything has been packed and weighed. I feel more ready than I could ever be. I have one empty full size luggage to check, a carryon luggage to put above my seat, and a backpack as my seat bag. All my electronics (laptop and camera) are in the carry on. I have nothing but paperwork, bottle of water, and travel items (like ibuprofen, pillow, ear plugs, journal and headphones).



Hello from the future! I am updating this with a comment on what I said in this post. I said that I had a journal with me on the plane. I feel as though that bullet journal (an emerald Leuchtturm 1917 bulleted journal) was the single best item I took on the trip with me. I realized when I returned from this trip that the most valuable thing I did while away was write down what I was doing each week and a sentence (or ten depending on the day and events) about what happened. I couldn’t take pictures inside everywhere, every second of every day I was there. A photo may be worth a thousand words but a sentence is the key to a trillion memories.



It’s the small things. I remember all the big events…. I didn’t need to capture every second of that. Even with my terrible memory all it takes is a sentence with keywords to job my memory. With very little effort I remember scents, feelings, actions… a million little things that photos skip over.



Remember to document more than just the fantastical things. Write down the color of your keychain, the angel scratched into the elevator door, and that weird dip in the sidewalk on the way to your classes. THOSE things are the things I wrote down and never would have considered taking a photo of.



So make sure you take just a few seconds each day to write down some key words and it will serve you well. Songs you heard, phrases you learned, names and features, smells, and random feelings.

The Flight

The Flight

Your carryon should hold your fragile items, electronics, and valuables. Important paperwork, ID, cash, and other items that you will need immediately should be at hand.

At your seat you should bring support items. I had a pillow that was compact and I could fill with air at my seat and lean my face on and put my arms in. Magical! I will link to one like it HERE. My flight was 5hrs with a 2hr layover in Texas and then another 5hrs to London.

Unless you wear a watch regularly, don’t bring one. It isn’t that important just for two flights. Instead prepare yourself to have a dead phone battery. Bring portable batteries! I brought three of them and I could have used an extra (because of all the time I kept having to waste making sure they were all plugged in because I used them up so quickly). Make sure they are as compact and large capacity as possible. You won’t want to carry bulk around every day. Slim charger in your pocket is nothing however!

 Apps. For London I recommend WhatsApp or Kik (if you want to hide your real number) to talk over Wi-Fi for free. To travel City Mapper is perfection, you can search for walking, bus, tube, or Uber routes and times. I would recommend using widgets on your screen to keep track of your HOME time. It is easier than counting every time you want to know; you can check in the same time it would take to check your foreign time. This will also save you during your flight to calculate travel times while crossing time zones.

Don’t bring things specifically for your flight. You will have to drag these items all over your foreign country and unless you will be travelling extensively for your entire trip, don’t coddle yourself. You can survive a flight with your ear buds instead of heavy duty noise cancelling headphones that will be cumbersome and added weight on your way home. Your ear buds may get annoying but you can handle it, I promise.

Tissues. Virtually weightless and for some reason, I swear, everyone’s noses run on planes. These can double as toilet paper as well!

Comfortable clothing (be aware of weather)

Charge everything before you leave!

Bring an empty water bottle (TSA will stop you for carrying liquids but there are loads of places to fill this passed security). Keep hydrated and eat a balanced meal before travelling. It is tempting to eat taco bell as a quick option but it will come back to haunt you mid-flight. You don’t want to be in and out of the toilet with embarrassing issues. Be prepared with Beano, heartburn, or diarrhea medication!

Get up and stretch during flight. Blood clots are a worry even for those of us without circulation problems. I personally wore restriction socks (like diabetics wear) to ward against them because I had a window seat). Sitting for long periods of time can be dangerous, because you risk of DVT (deep vein thrombosis) rises. It isn’t going to hurt anything or anyone for you to do a couple laps around. If you are worried about bothering staff, ask them for a route and best time to accomplish this during flight.

The woman sitting across from me during my flight clearly had circulation problems because she would constantly stand up next to me and stomp her feet… she was in pain! It was horrid.

My flight to the UK and back (and flights while I was there) weren’t bad. I watched movies, tv shows, and such on the flight over.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask any questions in the comments below.

Happy Travels,

Elle

Packing – Before You Leave

Packing

-          Clothing (Weather appropriate, backup shoes, items reusable for different outfits)

-          Electronics (Laptop, Kindle, Tablets, Phones, Chargers, hair dryers, voltage converters, and extra SD cards)

-          Carry on (meds, plugs, electronics, money, etc)

-          Security (locks for luggages, protection for cash/cards from electronic and physical threat)

-          Medication/Prescripton/OTC (ibuprofen/motion sickness meds/etc)

Keep important, fragile, expensive items in your carry on to stow in the overhead. With you in your seat keep your ID, ticket, ear plugs, face mask, sleeping pills, etc. Keep organized. If you can’t remember what is where, keep a list on your phone.

Speaking of your phone, you should keep important numbers, addresses, and information on your phone but also in a bag printed out just in case you have cellular issues abroad! Keep all important paperwork in a folder for easy access. You visa, insurance, etc should be kept together and safe!

Everyone told me to bringing good walking shoes. Don’t automatically run out and buy new shoes that you will have to break in while abroad.

In fact, don’t run out and buy a new wardrobe. You won’t be abroad walking runways. You will be studying and possibly spending time touring the city or areas. Take clothing you feel comfortable in. The tried and try pieces that won’t be itchy, ill fitting, or fail you. Clothing isn’t something you should have to worry about while there. I would avoid purchasing a whole new wardrobe while abroad as well. This would have to be done immediately, it would be immediately extremely expensive, take up a lot of space you will have to account for on your way home and you may not end up liking the clothing forcing you to return it. Keep in mind that you will have to launder this clothing while abroad. This could get expensive. You need space to keep this clothing, you’ll have to wash it weekly and that could be at a laundry mat. If you want to shop while abroad for clothing, bring the bare bones necessities. Jeans, white t-shirt, socks, etc. Then supplement it while you are abroad.

Tip: Weigh the items you bring that you will be returning with. Every time you make purchases I recommend monthly weigh- ins of those items. Airlines typically have weight restrictions on luggage.  You may end up needing to purchase and pay the fees for extra luggage. Or… you may end up having to donate items you can’t bring home before you leave. I’m still gutted that I had to leave my grey blanket. It was only 9 pounds in London but it was glorious.

If you plan on doing a lot of shopping check an empty luggage to use for items, you collect over the course of your trip. You could collect, souvenirs, gifts, clothing, and presents!

Don’t forget to pack electronically. Load music, books, and apps to prepare for travel. The best thing I did before leaving was download the free apps “Whatsapp” and “City Mapper” for London. Invaluable!

I want to push boundaries, be brace, and take chances during my trip but I don’t want the majority of those to be my asking for directions. I took the time to find out my location and map out around the dorm. I wanted to know key information like where I would catch the bus to school from the dorm. I don’t want to depend on wifi once I’m there to know this key detail. The nearest grocery store and the nearest home décor store as well went on my list. With the first couple of days I’m in London I will need to purchase things like sheets, blankets, necessities that weren’t essential to be packed. I want to travel as light as possible! There is also the added benefit of knowing the cities around central London so I know off the top of my head the general area I’ll be in at any given time. Central London is generally known as the west end for example.

I bought a handy recommended guide called London A-Z. This map guide book is spiral bound with an insane amount of detail. I plan to walk about out of curiosity and this little book will be my guide. Rather than rely on my phones GPS to get me the faster route to and from destinations I can take multiple routes without getting lost. Without signal I can look at this book and find the nearest bus station, tube station, or main thoroughfare! It also made an appearance in an episode of BBC’s newest version of Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch. If that doesn’t want to make you buy I don’t know what will.

If you can’t live without a specific face wash, bring it. I didn’t pack any toiletries and I regret this. It would have been empty space in my luggage on the way home. I was sick immediately after arriving and I didn’t have soap, shampoo, meds, body wash… nothing. I had to go out with the flu in an unfamiliar country to buy these things.

You must research what differences there are between what you normally purchase and what will be available. I had no idea the UK didn’t have plastic applicators for tampons. Sorry if this is TMI for you but… cardboard = not great. I got used to it but… those are something I could have brought with me because I had room.

Make sure you leave money to buy all these things when you return because you most likely won’t have space to bring what is left over!

Read on the next post about what to bring with you on the flight

Leave any questions you have for me in the comment section!

Happy Travels,

Elle

Preparing to Go Abroad

Preparing to Go Abroad

This process can be a daunting one. It will be a long journey but the results are worth it. This post will outline and try and explain each aspect.

1.       Contact

2.       Choose a program and country

3.       Degree requirements

4.       Finances

5.       Culture preparation

The first step is to make contact with your study abroad department. They are ready and willing to help you through this whole process step by step. They will have pamphlets, previous experience, and everything you will need to begin. There may be certain restrictions and requirements specific to your school that are important to know from the beginning. One such restriction may be the semester you are allowed to study abroad. Once such restriction could be that you are not allowed to study abroad in your last semester of your degree due to your senior thesis requirements.

This second step in your process is to choose a program and country. Depending on your degree, school, and personal goals, this may be decided for you. As a criminal justice student, I had very little choices in terms of the program and in my opinion my country of choice. Not a lot of the programs had schools in their listings that were applicable to my degree. I chose England as my country of choice because it is the birth place of our criminal justice system. I could have justified other countries to do a comparative analysis with our own but England makes way more sense. These decisions are very important because you will need to justify your choice in applications and scholarship essays.

The third step is figuring out the semester you will be able to go abroad. It is very important to go over your degree requirements to see what you still have to complete. If you have used all your electives already and you only have classes required to complete for your degree you will have to choose a school abroad who is offering those classes.

Finances are your fourth step. Your study abroad advisor should go over the costs of the program you chose, the school, housing, and local costs with you. If not, you can research, research, research. The information is out there. You need to make yourself a budget. Start with how much you will need and then you can work out if it is possible to afford it. There are a lot of options available to you.

a.       Saved money

b.       Familial support

c.       Scholarships via your program, school, state, country, honor societies, and clubs.

d.       Crowd funding

e.       Selling items

f.        Part-time job before leaving

Your fifth step is to prepare for months in a different country and culture from your own. It is your reasonability to prepare yourself for this task. It is important that you try and be as respectful as possible of their laws and culture while you are abroad. You are representing yourself, your school, your degree, and your home. There will be more differences than you can adequately prepare for. These differences could be appearance, language, customs, etc. Make an effort to look up large differences to prepare yourself. The most important differences to research are laws and maybe common social faux pas.

Preparing lists. Research. Be prepared with tourist destinations that are important to you, not places important to others. You may feel pressure to see Buckingham Palace. If it isn't important to you then don't do it. One of the most important things to be was Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, and the Sir Robert Peel statues (in London and Glasgow, Scotland).

•             Shops to frequent

•             Food to try

•             Grocery store names

•             Gift ideas

•             Addresses to send post cards to

•             Inspiration lists

•             Learning about your country of choice (phrases/tips)

Social media holds all the answers. Pinterest is a black hole of travel lists. I pinned every list I could find about unique stops, must see options, and out of this world eateries. Once I had down time I sat down and went through all of them and took note of places, people, and things to see. After creating this master list of amazingness I narrowed it down to the places that really spoke to me. They are at the top of my lists and are a priority depending on time, money, and location.

Remember that you are only human and nothing you can do will make the entire process perfect. I suggest creating a realistic list for yourself to complete before you leave.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to leave them in the comment section below.

Happy Travels,
Elle