Stillwater, Minnesota
Thursday, December 30, 2010
AHHHHH! I can't believe it is finally here! I will be leaving for Harlaxton one WEEK from today! My dad and I are driving to Chicago on Wednesday, January 5th. I then take my flight Thursday from the Chicago O’Hare airport at 4:51pm. It’s an 8 hour flight, but with the time change (6 hours) I don’t arrive at the London Heathrow airport until 6:55am. It is non-stop AND I’m on the group flight, so at least I don’t have to worry about getting lost (hopefully). There will then be someone at the airport to transport us to the college. Not quite sure yet how I'm going to fit my life into 2 suitcases, but I guess I have to! Harlaxton College is a manor. Needless to say, it’s pretty much every girls dream! There are close to 150 students total and we are all from the United States. There is the meet-a-family program where if you choose to, you can be paired up with a family that invites you over for dinner or possibly takes you out around England, depending on the family. I just got an email from mine last Friday! Their names are Judith and Ralph Poore and live about 3 miles from Harlaxton, which is about all I know so far. This way I will be able to get more of the cultural aspect of being in England, since there aren’t any British students. I will have 1-3 roommates, but won’t know who they are or my room assignment until I get there. Harlaxton is located one mile from the small town Grantham and is near Nottingham. It is also a little over a one hour train ride to London. As for traveling, I am planning to do a LOT. The school plans trips for almost every weekend, which you can choose to sign up for if you want. I have signed up for a weekend in London, North Wales, and Paris and a nine day trip to Italy (Rome, Florence, and Venice). I’m sure I will do a lot of traveling on my own as well, hopefully to Ireland and possibly Spain. I am going try to keep up with this blog about once a week, especially after my trips, so I don’t have to repeat my stories 247983240 times... we’ll see how it goes! :]
I found this quote that I like and think it fits well...
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”
– Cesare Pavese
See you in 4 months!!!
Sarah
Comments
Good luck Sarah! I wish I was going with you!
What a great opportunity.. have fun Sarah !!
Write something soon I am dying to know that you are alive and well at Hogwarts!