I've checked everything off my check list
Check, check, check.
Color coding everything in every single guide book I have
Yellow, blue, pink, green.
Everything is happening so fast
I'm leaving tomorrow.
Called the bank.
Told my landlord.
Everything...will be...OK.
Just keep telling yourself, Jessica. Breathe in, breathe out.
Winter break has been incredible, and I'm sorry it's been a while since I've written. I've spent my last few days with really important friends. It's not like going to Paris is anything different than going to NYC. But it is. There's a 9 hour difference between my friends in CA and me in Paris. It's critical to let people realize how much they'll be missed, and how much I'll be thinking about them.
I get extremely sentimental. I know it's probably unnecessary to be too sentimental. I'm back at the end of May! There are some things, though, that you worry will happen:
Like always, you worry about this critical thing: What will happen to all the relationships with people that I've matriculated during the time I've been here?
We start to question how strong our bonds with people are, how we ourselves will change through the course of a new adventure, whether it be going to NYC for 3-4 months, or Paris for 4.
I don't think that we (you guys) should keep worrying about how our choices about colleges, new adventures will hurt your relationships with friends. Sure, had I gone to a UC I'd still be friends with the same people I was friends with in high school. Had I never broken away from the UC system, I would not have had the opportunity to force myself to take a leap and go abroad. Not saying that you're "weak" for choosing to stay back around home, but I'm just saying, it's a big push forward to move across the country no matter when you take this leap.
I think that it's extremely important to be encouraged to study abroad...this is especially true in NYU, where studying abroad is something really, really extraordinary. We offer so many different locations (Cuba, Ghana, Shanghai, Thailand, London, Prague...etc) that it's mind-boggling. Seriously: no school prepares you for studying abroad better than NYU, where we're trying to be a "global" university.
Paris will be exciting, I agree. I'll be your virtual tour guide, and even teach y'all a few French phrases.
But, as always, new art ensues:
BEFORE
AFTER
Shopping bags are absolutely necessary in Paris. Be nice to the environment, it's already been YEARS since Paris no longer gives plastic bags. Go green.
RAINBOOTS (completely essential in rainy Paris)
Thanks for checking out what I do during my free time. It's like therapeutic goofing off. It's always important to continue to stretch the mind even when you're not being challenged by a professor in school.
WISH ME LUCK, FRIENDS!