Monday Memories

So once upon a time I did a few Monday Memories post for your reading pleasure. It’s been awhile since I’ve done one… heck, it’s been awhile since I’ve written period. So today I am going to bring back my long lost Monday theme.

When I was 16 years old, I decided that I wanted to study abroad. I ordered all the brochures from the various programs and spent hours picturing what my semester abroad would be like in each country. The place I really wanted to go was Australia, but I didn’t think it would work out since their school year is on a very different schedule than ours. (Blame that on the opposite seasons.) It wasn’t until after I had sort of settled on going to the Netherlands (because the guide claimed you could learn Dutch in only 3 months!) I learned about Education Queensland International. It was a government program that allowed American students to study in Queensland for 5 months without delaying their graduation back in the U.S.

My parents weren’t thrilled with the idea of me leaving the country for half of a year, but my sister had spent a year at a boarding school in India, so they really couldn’t say no. They gave me an ultimatum: a car or studying abroad. Knowing that I had my whole life to get a car, I chose studying abroad and quickly sent off my application to the program. I got accepted, was given a host family that I would be living with, and had my plane ticket… I was leaving on January 19th, 2003.

I don’t remember exactly why, but the night before I left I got grounded and had to cancel whatever plans I had made with all of my friends. Instead, my mom allowed for them each to come over and say goodbye for about twenty minutes. There were a lot of tears and I remember questioning my decision to even go in the first place… how could I live without my friends? They were my LIFE. So I thought.

The next morning I headed off to the airport with my parents and three friends who wanted to go along. I was 16 years old and about to head off to a continent for six months where I did not know a single person. I was scared to death, but so excited for the adventure that I couldn’t stop grinning. I hugged my family and friends one last time and then walked away to the next six months of my life. I had four flights that added up to about 30 hours before I would get there. I remember being miserable on the flight from LA to Sydney. It was fourteen hours and cramped. I tried to sleep the time away. But when we landed, I coudln’t believe it. I was in Australia!

I had one more short flight to Cairns, the city where I would be living and going to school. The flight was only an hour, but I was so nervous. I had been traveling for almost 30 hours without a shower or a chance to change out of my winter clothes. When we landed, I stepped off the plane into a gust of hot, tropical air. I began sweating immediately. A few minutes later, I walked through the airport doors to find a huge group of people standing there with a sign saying “G’Day Jessica!” I can’t describe to you how overwhelming these 15 minutes of my life were. I felt disgusting and in dire need of a shower, and I was meeting a crowd of people for the first time in my life. To make things even more nerve-racking, my host mother had brought her nephew and his friend along, who were only a year older than me and very attractive. Hot Australian boys were seeing me looking like this? I wanted nothing more than to hide my face from everyone… but I had to resist, smile, and act a lot more peppy than I was actually feeling.

A couple hours later, I had showered, changed, and started unpacking my new room. I felt a million times better and was ready to dive right into my adventure. I was in Australia, and I was going to be just fine. In fact, better than fine…. and I was. The six months I spent in Australia changed my life.

(Oh, and I definately ended up dating one of the cute Australian boys from the airport.)