Goodbye Beautiful Hawaii!!
I leave tomorrow! Its crazy thinking that my time in Hawaii has come to an end as I prepare for a new chapter in life! Getting to this point was not easy. Since I am studying abroad via SAC I was required to attend mandatory pre departure meetings to give us some knowledge and information about the program. We were required to fill out many applications, forms, packets and contracts. I’ve booked my flights via Justfly.com because they offered low rates. I had a real scare because my departure date is January 13 and my passport and visa arrived from the Spanish Consulate a few days prior! but now that it is all said and done I am completely ecstatic. I’ve been very contemplative these last few days and have been asking for advice and opinions anywhere I can find!
One of my close friends has actually already done this SAC, Seville program and she was able to introduce me to the person that used to live with my host mom, Maria Jose. Emeilia gave me some amazing advice preparing me for my travels! The first thing she mentioned was to be “Yes Person”, she said that studying abroad can be very difficult and stressful and many people react to this stress by spending their weekends cozy in bed watching netflix. She urged me to say yes to all opportunities that are made available to me and push myself outside of my comfort zone.
Another piece of advice I received before I leave was from my mom. I was speaking with my mom about how I was going to miss my friends and life here in Hawaii. My mom told me that this is one of the only times in life where you have the freedom, means and desire to live abroad and that I should seize it.
At the beginning of the semester, by best friend Lupua was planning on coming with me to Spain as well; however, she was not able to find classes that would transfer back towards her engineering major. She also wasn’t certain that she would be able to afford the trip and so had decided not to go; however she so wanted to. Her advice seemed the most prominent: ‘be grateful’. She said “remember all the blessings and privileges that you have been given to enable you to do this trip and try to keep it in mind while you are abroad. Everything you see and everything that happens to you will be a gift”.
I fly out tonight to my first destination: Leutkirch, Germany. My semester in Seville does not start for a few weeks so I’m going to spend some time traveling and visiting my old friend Anika and her two girls.
Auf Wiedersehen!
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