1/16/2011
Today is the day I leave for Paris. Mixed feelings. I am very excited and very nervous. I don’t know what to expect or how its going to be. I know it is going to be an amazing experience full of new friends, memories and places I’ve never been and or may never visit again. I know I will look back and have the time of my life and I hope it lives up to its expectations. I also hope I am able to be myself and or find myself. I hope I can grow, yet, be the same smart, independent person I am now.
I am nervous about the French and the first few hours. François is going to be meet me at the airport but I am still nervous about getting around. I am also nervous about meeting the family. I hope they speak English for the first few days until I get used to everything. I also hope I can get adjusted to the time quickly. I hope the classes aren’t too hard and I hope the other kids are cool. I just hope everything is amazing and I don’t regret anything.
I obviously wanna learn the city like the back of my hand, which I think wont be hard for my considering I have an amazing memory and am great at directions. But I would also like to visit:
- Dublin for St. Particks
- London for the Royal Wedding
- Rome/ the Vatican for Easter
- Venice
- Berlin
- Milan
- Naples
- Vienna
- Prague
- Barcelona for a football(soccer) match and or the running of the bulls
- Amsterdam
- Alps to go skiing
I know it’s a long list, but I hope to do as much as I can without going broke. Once again, I don’t wanna regret anything and I wanna get the most out of this experience. I am so lucky to have parents that allowed me to go and have my family completely behind me. I am also so lucky to go to Penn State and be able to take advantage of studying abroad. I hope this diary will help me remember everything that I do, see, people I meet and things I learn during my 4 months in the city of lights.
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This is the first of many posts from my journal I wrote during my semester abroad in 2011. I will not change anything in the post unless noted here.
*I bolded the places I did end up visiting