Hiya!
Thank you for visiting my blog. This is one of many firsts for me. I've never written a blog before, so I'll be learning as I go along. In fact, I usually don't like to share my writing with people, but I figure this is the easiest way to help me save time in keeping most (if not all) of the people that care about my journey up to date with where I am and what I've been doing.
For those who don't know, in exactly three weeks I will be headed to our mother country for four months (another first for me). Through my wonderful university, I have the opportunity to see what it will be like to live with 30 other students my age in one of the two houses ACU owns in Oxford (the city, not the actual university), while learning how to juggle my studies amidst all the traveling and sight-seeing necessary while in a foreign country. So...I'm just a little excited.
While this is not my first trip out of the country, I've only been to Europe a couple of times: once nine years ago when my family and I went to France for a month, and once just this past summer when my mom and I went to Ireland for a little over a week. Also, as you may have noticed, I have never gone by myself. And while, yes, I will be with a fairly large group of people, I am in charge of my own travel planning. That means learning how to negotiate finding flights or trains to different cities and arranging hostel stays, learning how to travel not only with other people, but learning how to travel wisely. It will be quite the challenge, but hopefully I'm up to the task!
Part of my homework before our departure is to plan two trips: a long, in-country weekend and a week-long trip anywhere. I don't have any solid plans on where I would like to go while I'm there. (Un)Fortunately, there are so many places to choose from it would be hard to go wrong. If you know anything about my decision-making habits, you know what kind of problem this poses... In the next two week, though, I'll have a more definitive itinerary (as definitive as it can be anyway), and I'll update you on what my top places are.
I'm not just going there to sight-see, however. I will be taking 16 hours, a pretty full load. My class list includes Walking for Fitness (Oxford is definitely a better option for this than Abilene), Message of the Old Testament, The Cross and the Crescent (a Missions class, so I can finally start working on that Bible minor!), Elementary French I (which is very exciting because our class gets to go to France for a few days, so that's a free trip there for me), Intro to Great Britain (the required International Studies class, but should be interesting), and last but most certainly not least Major British Writers II (I had to work very hard scheduling these past three semesters to make this class work, but it's going to be so worth it!!).
Well, that brings you up to date for now. One thing I would like to say is that while this is a place for me to share with you, I would love for it to be an interactive place. Leave comments if you'd like, if you have questions or suggestions or just thoughts. I love to hear what other people have to say, and especially if you have any suggestions about traveling, such as great places you've been that you think I should check out or anything at all! Feedback is always helpful.
Again, I just want to say thank you for choosing to be a part of this journey (while being apart from this journey). It means a lot to me, and I hope I can entertain as well as impart at least a piece of the knowledge (and maybe even wisdom if I'm lucky) that I gain over these next four months. I can't guarantee that my posts won't all be this long, but I'll try and get a few shorter ones in there. And hopefully I'll be able to add some pictures here or there (since I now have a lovely new camera from my fabulous mother!), so look forward to those.
Merry Christmas, all!
Elisa
