The Beginning.

Departure is now about 4 days away. Part of me is looking forward to this experience with great excitement, while part of me is still extremely nervous about being across the ocean for 3 months. I mean, it's the Atlantic ocean. It's not like I can just hop on a plane home. Not that I do would do that when I'm in Boston anyway. I think it's just the fact that it's a giant body of water and I've never been to Europe. Plus, not having access to my cell phone will definitely take getting used to. But so many people have done this before me so it can't be too difficult.

My Worries
The average Emerson student's financial situation is very different from mine. Money is definitely my biggest concern. My freshman year of high school I went with my Civics class to Washington, D.C. and ended up spending most of my funds during the first two days. It was so bad that my mom had to wire money to my cousin so that I would be able to get through the rest of the trip. Granted, that was about five years ago and I've learned a lot about budgeting myself since then. I've lived away from home for about a year and a half now and I'm used to not relying on my mom for money. And honestly, I'm so glad that my mom isn't the kind of person who can or would supply me with unlimited funds. I'd much rather be earning my own money. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to save as much money as I wanted from my job this past semester. The recommended budget for the 90 days is $4000. I have less than a quarter of that in my account at the moment. Mom has assured me that she will help me out which is a great relief but I'm still quite concerned. I know I won't end up traveling every single weekend like some people but I'm going to try and make the most of it anyway.

Travel Plans
Since I won't be able to travel as much or as extensively as some of my fellow castle dwellers I hope to explore Well and the surrounding areas as much as possible. I know I want to go to Amsterdam several times since it's easy and cheap to get to. And I do want to be able to explore at least one city in depth so I'm hoping that Amsterdam will be that city. I'm almost 100% sure I want to do Spain for our travel break/spring break. I was able to get a EuRail pass for The Netherlands, Belguim, Luxembourg, France, and Spain so that will definitely come in handy over travel break. My friends have suggested Dublin for St. Patrick's Day which would be a lot of fun. Other than that I know I want to go to several places in Italy, Bruges, Paris, possibly Athens, London, Switzerland, and Germany. Just to say that I want to go to these places is overwhelming yet exciting since they're places I've only read about or seen on TV and in movies. The school takes us to Amsterdam for our first weekend and Prague before the travel break, so that gives me two guaranteed weekends. I haven't booked anything yet but I hope to do that in the next few days.

Wow. I really can't believe this is actually happening. This will be a wonderful adventure, full of new friends, new places, and hopefully not too many bumps in the road. I hope you enjoy reading about all of them!