Five years ago last Monday (Silly me I miscalculated the anniversary date, but a quick look at my plane tickets reminded me. Hey it’s been five years, cut me some slack.) I embarked on an incredible adventure, and here’s how it all began.
When I entered college, I belonged to the Honors College. As a requirement of the honors program, the honor students attended a once a week honor seminar. One of these seminars was all about studying abroad. I remember thinking how exciting it would be to study abroad but regarded it as something I would never be able to do because of money and because my parents would probably never let me.
I had all but forgotten about studying abroad until the Spring semester of my Junior year. It started as something I was researching just out of pure curiosity, and then it turned into, “Hey I could actually do this.”
I first had to convince my parents to let me go. It didn’t really take much convincing. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and neither one of them wanted me to pass it up. The next step was figuring out how to pay for it.
With a little research and asking around, I learned that I had access to certain scholarships specifically for students wanting to study abroad. With the help of my honors adviser, who just so happen to be the adviser for studying abroad as well, I got a few scholarships to help me pay for tuition, one actually through IFSA-Butler, a program affiliated with MUW to offer study abroad opportunities. I also met with the head of the financial aid department and he informed me of other scholarships that might be available to me. What I couldn’t pay for with scholarships, I paid for with school loans, or donations from my family.
After the funds were secured, I got my passport, then booked my round trip flight from Dallas, Texas to Perth, Western Australia. When my tickets arrived in the mail it all became real.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
My tickets (this is a recent pictures so they are marked up, and yes I have kept them all these years) and my passport photos.
On June 10, 2008, my adventure began.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
My excited face.
My parents, my boyfriend and I drove 7+ hours from my hometown in Meridian, Mississippi to Dallas, Texas, where they put me on a plane and waved goodbye. My boyfriend Nick (who is now my husband) gave me a note to read on the plane. In the letter he told me how brave he thought I was for taking this incredible journey alone and how it would awaken in me qualities that I never knew I possessed. There was a lot of other sweet sentimental stuff in there, but I’ll spare you the gushy details.
I read the letter as soon as I was seated and, of course, cried. Once the sadness from leaving my boyfriend and family behind for 6 weeks subsided, the excitement kicked in. Not only was this the first time I had ever traveled out of the country, but it was my very first time on an airplane. From Dallas I flew to San Francisco, then on to Sydney, and finally to Perth, Western Australia.
When I landed in Perth, after about 23 hours of changing planes and flying, I caught a cab to my hotel. I was supposed to call my parents and let them know that I arrived safely, but I had no idea how to dial out of the country. There was no free wi-fi internet in my hotel so chatting via instant messenger was also out of the question. It’s a pretty scary and alienating feeling being in a foreign place, completely alone with no way to communicate with anyone back home. Scared feelings aside, I forged on. I took a shower (because after 23 hours on a plane, well… you get the picture), got dressed and decided to explore Perth. I went to a little pub called Bobby Dazzler’s Ale House to have dinner, then walked around with my camera taking pictures.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
This was actually a walk through mall, that came out on another street with more stores.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
While I was out, I did a little shopping. I found this great store called Cotton On and spent a little of my money in there. They have really adorable clothes at very reasonable prices. I also bought an outlet adapter and a webcam so I could Skype with my family.
I stayed within the vicinity of my hotel as I did not want to get lost in a foreign land. I wasn’t out for very long when I noticed the sun going down. It was 5:00 p.m. and the stores were also closing. I was very perplexed at the sun going down so early, and even more so by the stores closing so soon. I later learned that the stores close early so that people can spend time with their families. I thought that was very endearing.
After exploring, I went back to my hotel and set up my webcam, then tried to sleep. Jet lag is a sumbitch let me tell you. I woke up at like 4:00 in the morning and watched the news, then finally drifted off again and overslept the next day for my meeting with my IFSA-Butler advisor. To be continued…
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
