Departures

It really is quite surreal; after 4 months of Minnesota, family, and work, the day has finally come for me to return to school. Well, return to school in England that is.

Can anyone say holy cannoli? (I figure that’s appropriate enough for a Jesuit-endorsed blog, right? :p).

As a native Midwesterner attending college in New England, I’ve gotten used to traveling – a lot – over the past two years. And I love it – it’s one of my favorite things about going to Holy Cross. I’ve been given this amazing opportunity to build a life of my own in a new place, surrounded by new faces and an unfamiliar environment. Now, I’m about to take that one step (or 3,252 miles, to be exact) further, all the way to the quaint college town of Oxford, England.

I’m going to be honest: the past two weeks have been a bit more nerve-racking than I expected them to be. Leaving home and my people has been my new normal for awhile now. But living in a new country? Now that’s a whole different story. And yet, I truly couldn’t be more excited to embark on my trip across “The Pond.” Yes, I am nervous about what the future holds. And yes, the uncertainty that comes with this whole moving-abroad-to-England thing, along with being an incredible life-altering experience, can make my stomach churn on a good day (can you tell yet that I’m a classic over-thinker?) But for a young woman on the search for a purpose, maybe that’s just what I need: nine months of good ‘ol, uninterrupted self exploration.

My mother gave me a going away present last night while we were enjoying one last dinner as a family: a journal, whose first page reads “Every answer is inside you.” Underneath, she had written in her fancy mother-quality calligraphy, “if Oxford doesn’t teach you this ~ nobody will…” I have no doubt Oxford will teach me that and so, so much more.

I can’t wait to share this journey and explore the world with you all. Here we go!

Cheers,

HRH

P.S. For any hockey fans/Minnesotans out there: I ate breakfast next to Zach Parise and a handful of other top players from the Minnesota Wild this morning (and by accident!). If that’s not a good omen on a day of international travel, then I don’t know what is 🙂

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2015 at 7:55 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.