Study Abroad, Honors Program & Other Student Experiences

It doesn’t quite feel real to me that I’ve reached the “last week” of my study abroad experience.   Well, it’s not even a week anymore—it is days. Nor does it feel real that I’ll be starting my senior year in a scant few months.  I feel like everyone is very hyped to go home, but I’m looking forward to my extended trip with my mother—we’re staying an extra 10 days to tour Southern Italy. Then its home and summer classes and fall preparations. Fall preparations include grad school applications, JET applications, taking the GRE, and FYSAE mentoring. Summer classes have in fact, started for me this week. I’ve got an assignment due on Wednesday, and I’ll complete the first half of the class while on the road with my mother.

That’s right, I’m going to be a FYSAE mentor again! I’m very much looking forward to this year, because I can attend the Summer Orientation, where I’ll be able to meet my mentees before they head off to London.  Last summer, I was in Cape Town on another program, so I was only able to communicate via email prior to their departure.  It’s been nearly two years since my own Orientation—I wonder if it has changed much?

Senior year definitely conjures up mixed emotions in me. I’m excited to start my final year; I’m hesitant to actually finish my last year. I’m up for a new experience: staying in one campus for a full year; I’m a bit sad I won’t be studying abroad anymore. I’ll be taking only 4 classes my senior spring; I’ll be taking 8 classes my senior fall. I’m taking classes mostly outside my major this fall, which is new; I’ve finally come to enjoy my major this past spring. I’ll be able to dance in Puro Ritmo again, which is always a plus. I’ve figured out what my dream career is; I don’t know what my realistic one is in the meantime. I’ve got nine months to get my life together and head out into the working world—unless I, by some miracle, get into grad school or accepted to JET, and that’s a bit scary.

But hey, I signed up for this when I became a three year student—and whoever said that just because something is scary, it means you should give up?