Day 27: I Aim To Finish What I Started..The Study Abroad Blog: Beginnings.

Alright, I feel more alive...starting to get over a cold..which seems to happen after every fall semester final.

As I finally started cleaning my workspace, cluttered with materials and papers from September, I thought about how I would take this blog to another direction now that I have the time to work on other things. 

While I cleaned, I found a small bag with the scarf I was making..that I started 5 years ago..

Five years later...

Anyhow, I then found my folder full of maps and things from my study abroad trip almost a year ago. 

I thought about the travel blog that only had one or two posts in it..

You might think its impossible for me to restart it now, as I may have forgotten many moments of my time there...but that is where you are wrong!

The only thing that could redeem myself from this failure, was the fact that I wrote in a 3 inch thick, red leather journal, everyday while I was there. I wrote down every little detail. 

Because I never wanted to forget.

So I thought, I would write about my travels there, starting from the beginning...to finish what I wanted to do for awhile now. Not everyday of course, but every..other..day.

There are a lot of fun moments that i've wanted to share. 

So lets start! 

This was around the time I was working with Max and Zach for a final project. Having been mentally and emotionally abused by them (see post Day 9 for the lurid details), I decided to study abroad, not only to heal...but to change the way I saw my life at the time.

I never been abroad before, never been on a plane, etc. The only "international" experiences I've got, were from friday afternoon excursions to Chinatown, Little Italy, Little India..

Basically, very little..(a'hah)

I applied to Syracuse's Study Abroad program in Florence, Italy. At first I wasn't sure I would be able to go, but with the money I had saved and the grants/scholarship I recieved, I was able to go. (granted, that I survived on crackers for most of my semester there, but more on that later)

My dad found a really cheap ticket to Florence, but of course, its cheap for a reason. I would take a plane to Zurich, arrive around 10:30am, leave around 6, fly to Geneva (which was only an hour) then spend another 11-12 hours there until I flew to Florence. I know other people might have found this horrifying, but It was actually really fun.

As the weeks to my fall semester were drawing closer to an end, I found myself starting to get more and more nervous about traveling by myself. I was, perhaps I still am, a really shy person at heart. (I know some of you are probably snorting at that statement, but they say the most craziest, people are really the most extroverted)

I saw that other people were really excited for me. Max and another studio mate, Aubin had bought me a present..

of course I was suspicious..

When I went to my desk..I found a large box wrapped in Black Paper..

it was a pair of "Freudian Slippers"

(Though i'm thinking, it was a pity gift for all the trauma/borrowing money from me for all the coffee and cigarettes..or maybe they're trying to tell me something..)

Because I would be away from my friends for a semester, we decided to have a hot pot party together. I was reluctant to leave them.

I made an enormous amount of "Korean Sushi" (its like sushi, except no raw fish)

We were to meet at my friends apartment. Elena made a list of things for me to get in 

Chinatown. When she said "white mushrooms" I didn't understand what she meant..


I drew out what I thought she meant.

What she drew

She ended up drawing everything else on the list...

When I came back, they had set up the table, we didn't have an actual hot pot to use, but we set up a rice cooker instead. Works just as fine. 

After our dinner, we played Soul Calibur. All of us made characters that resembled us. 

Bill's looked just like his...(he even had a meat kabob weapon)

Bill insisted that he make my character...

I ended up looking like this.

(It was a "broccoli" ..a nickname I aquired in my freshman year when I had a failed perm)

It was snowing, and despite the horrendous earache and flu I was suffering from that night, We got up on the roof, and had a snowball fight. 

It was a really great night.


And as I lay there on the couch at their apartment, Nyquil slowly knocking me out. 
(Dr. Bill's orders: 'Just knock yourself out, then you'll feel so much better!")


I thought about how I would be away from them for 3-4 months.
and it really scared me..but I knew I couldn't hold on to them forever.


I had to find my own way.


(So yea, every other post, i'll talk about my travel abroad experiences)

yep...