Ahh, so this is my first post on the blog, so I guess I’d better introduce myself! I’m Victoria, a sociology student, and in January I will be moving to the University of Missouri – Columbia, for a semester. Whilst at Manchester, I live at home, so I think it will be pretty difficult to adapt to living with a roommate for six months.

I’ll be flying out there exactly 3 weeks today and you’d think I’d be terrified, but there’s just so much to do – from sorting my visa and medical history, to cancelling my gym membership and trying to keep on top of all my alternative assessment essays for Manchester – that I haven’t really had any time to sit and think, and let it sink in that I am actually moving across the Atlantic away from everything and everyone that I know for a relatively long period of time. My main worry at the moment is the alternative assessments for the courses I’m taking at Manchester. All I want to do is spend my time researching Mizzou and Columbia, but I know that I neeeeeeeed to get these assignments done ASAP!

This week in particular has been pretty crazy. It’s the last week of autumn semester, so I’ve had to say goodbye to lots of my friends who are going home for Christmas, and who won’t be returning to Manchester until after I fly out. It’s been emotional realising that I won’t see some of my closest friends until next September, but thank goodness for Skype and Snapchat, meaning that we can still talk regularly. I also went to London this week to get my visa sorted, which wasn’t as terrifying as I expected. I had heard some horror stories from fellow study abroad participants that they were at the Embassy for 5 hours waiting for their application to be processed. Fortunately for me, mine was completed within an hour, which was a lovely surprise!

One of my friends from MMU is actually spending a year abroad in the US, and I met up with him to catch up whilst he is home for Christmas. It was so…reassuring being able to talk to someone who totally understands how you’re feeling, and who can give you so much insight into the entire study abroad process. Catching up with him definitely helped to calm some of my worries and put my mind at ease. Plus we’ve made plans to travel around the West Coast at the end of the semester which I’m super excited about already.

I guess the next time I post on here will be when I’m actually in Missouri, which is exciting!