Today is the day!! After what seems like the longest winter of my life, the Netflix marathons have come to an end. I leave for Aix-en-Provence tonight to start my four-month journey in Europe! I am so much more excited than nervous at this point, and am ready to tackle the eight-hour plane ride.

As long as I can remember I have wanted to study abroad, and it seems like as soon as I knew what traveling was I was ready to take on the world. But this past month at home has been filled with nerves, anxiety, and anticipation for today. All of my friends at Miami were going through recruitment, getting back into classes, and going out with each other (#GroveThursdays), and I felt like I was missing out on everything. I know that sounds crazy. I’m going to France! How can I be jealous? But the fear of the unknown has been lingering for months now and not being in Miami really set me straight: France is a very real thing. 

I luckily have several friends studying in Europe this semester, in places like Paris, Sevilla, Copenhagen, Florence and Dublin, and they’ve been scoping out the European scene for me. Listening to their stories of what their cities are like and hearing the little details about how Europe differs has gotten me so excited to have similar adventures, and to create some of my very own.

I’m excited to be going to the lesser-known French city of Aix. It’s a university town with a majority of the people speaking solely French. I am nowhere near close to fluent, but I hope being thrown into the culture will force me to learn. Aix is known for its lavender plants that grow close to year round, and the nearby historic sites such as Marseille and the Pont du Gard. The southern atmosphere is supposedly very different than northern France, and I’m ready to dive right in.

I really have no idea what to expect for this journey. Of course I know where I will be going and a little bit about the town, but there are so many small details that will change how I see the world that I cannot even begin to anticipate. Besides exploring Southern France, I plan to visit friends in other nearby countries and learn more about Europe as a whole.

I am definitely intimidated about what’s ahead, but I can’t wait to think back to these moments and remember how silly it was to be nervous. The best is yet to come.