Take Off

WELCOME TO MY BLOG! I'll be recording my thoughts and adventures here while I am in Rotterdam. I was going to try to make my posts more frequent but as soon as I landed here I've been swept away from the internet and into this beautiful city. I guess that's supposed to happen. Anyway, I'll try to keep up to date with what I'm doing in school, around Rotterdam, and abroad for all those who aren't here with me.

Some unfinished, sleep-deprived thoughts while in transit:

BOS --> DUB --> AMS --> Rotterdam

Here begins my 6-month semester abroad in Rotterdam, the Netherlands at Willem de Kooning Academie. I've been sitting in Dublin Airport, eating porridge and waiting for my flight to Amsterdam. Airports are strange, particularly when only transferring between flights- I've dreamed of visiting Ireland since I was old enough to understand the concept of my family's origins, but in my four hours here all I'll see is an overcast sky through rainy windows.

I've never been outside of the United States, and I've traveled alone only a few times, so this trip is a pretty big deal for me, but I feel I'm approaching it in a way that's familiar to me. From when I was young whenever I was facing something big, scary, exciting, new and potentially nerve-racking (moving to New York City, wearing a torso brace, entering high school and college, going to a sleepover summer camp), I learned to tell myself the same things:

You're not doing this alone. there are plenty of people in the same position around you who have no clue what they're doing. Make friends with them and laugh at your stupid mistakes together and you'll be fine.

You've done big, new, scary things before and you were fine. I really have no idea how 10-year-old me put up with wearing a modern-day plastic corset for 5 years to fix my back, but I did, and I came out fine.

You always have more fun than you expect. I never expected to find a second home when I went away for the first time to Friends Camp, but I did, and I never want to leave.