Full speed ahead...

I focused much of my attention on planning ahead for the summer. I went through weeks of research and decision making accompanied by full out frustration. I didn't know what I wanted to do! I had an idea that I'd take summer courses, but when could I fit in some vacation time? I looked into Study Abroad programs and tried to see which would best suit my academic schedule.


First I went with my desire to visit Greece, so I looked into a program there. Than I realized that I had declared a minor in Italian, so why not study in Italy. I must have spent three months just trying to piece parts of my life together. Let me tell you- it was not all that exciting. I just waited for some sort of epiphany and some sort of mini revelation to push me forward.

It came to me right before my radio news reporting class. I had just spoke to my friend who got accepted into an LA internship program and I found myself really upset and jealous at the fact that this was now going to be her second "study elsewhere" program and I had yet to do one! My reasons were financial ones. I try to be an advocate of the old "money isn't everything" saying but really when it comes down to the specifics, money is something that needs to be considered. I took it to the extreme and decided not to study abroad just because of money, but I realized that was not a good enough reason.

I am young and in college and this is basically my last summer as a college student. Why would I not take advantage of a study abroad program? The opportunity to live in another country, take classes and live the college life only comes during these prime years of one's life. This was my time to experience it. Money could not stop me.

So I got to my class, hopped on a computer, and called up Fairfield University that had a fantastic program available in Florence for the summer. I had already applied to the program a few weeks back but I decided to cancel my application because I felt overwhelmed by the program cost. Now that I was experiencing this grand epiphany, I felt the urge to call and reapply to the program. For some odd reason the lady I spoke to remembered my name and just so happened to have my application on file. I had to send a few other things, but really it just fell into place. It was odd and I felt it was exactly what needed to happen. I was ready to commit to this program and study abroad this summer. Exactly what I have wanted to do for quite a loooong time...

It seems things worked out too fairytale- like for me right? Well, sometimes life works that way. There were a lot of sleepless nights and deep conversations with friends and family trying to weigh the pros and cons of different things, so I'd say I earned a peaceful resolution to deciding how my summer will work out. All I had left to say was full speed ahead....