T-Minus 1 Week until Departure!

As I sit in my house on New Year's Eve, I come to the realization that in exactly ONE week I will be aboard a flight from Detroit to Amsterdam, or as my mother so kindly pointed out, I could be stranded in the Detroit airport for days due to inclimate weather. Thanks mom, as if I'm not nervous enough as it is; just what I need, the thought of being stuck in an airport for an extended period of time.

I am very excited to begin my journey to a foreign land, albeit slightly nervous. Mom and I went shopping earlier this week to acquire everything I might need while overseas. My nerves were eased a little when I received more information about arrival to Scotland. Just to have a list of all the papers I need to present at customs makes me feel so much better and less like I'm jumping into an endless abyss.

So, now the real countdown begins. One week. 7 days. 168 hours. 10080 minutes. 604800 seconds until I leave. I think I have plenty of time to get everything packed...and start to freak out a little more!

Happy New Year's! I cannot wait to start 2011 with an adventure!

Okay...why Scotland?

So some of you may be wondering why of all destinations across the globe did I choose to spend the spring of my junior year in Scotland. Well, it is an interesting question.

If you had asked me when I was in high school where I wanted to study abroad (or even freshman year of college) I probably would have said "I don't know, somewhere." When I got to Guilford and began looking into my options as a junior, I realized that Guilford offered a lot of really neat opportunities for spending time abroad. I could have gone to a spanish speaking country to practice the language, or to Ireland or India or even China.

However, when it came time to applying and choosing which location was best for me, reality set in. If I wanted to graduate on time (or close to it) I needed to be able to take courses while abroad that would fulfill my physics major. This narrowed my options to countries that spoke english (I can imagine it would be VERY difficult to learn physics in a different language when I have to work my butt of to understand it in english!) So, of the choices Guilford had I decided Scotland sounded the most appealing!

What is unique about my study abroad experience from what many other Guilford students do is that mine is considered a Guilford Affiliated program, rather than a Guilford Led program. What is the difference you might ask? Well, a Guilford Led program is where a group of Guilford students go to a different country with a Guilford professor and live and go to school together. A Guilford Affiliated program is where students are enrolled directly in an institution in a different country. So, when I go to Scotland in just shy of two weeks, it will be me, the University of Dundee, and Scotland...things should be interesting!

So, I'm going to Scotland!

Hello world!

Welcome to my blog! My goal of establishing this blog is so that I can document and share my anticipation, adventures, and daily life during my semester in Scotland.

For those of you who are unaware, my name is Hannah and I am a junior at Guilford College in North Carolina. I will be spending the spring semester studying at the University of Dundee, in Dundee, Scotland, UK. I love to travel. I attribute this to the many family vacations where my parents stuffed my brother and me in the car and toted us about the country. So, when I went to college, it was no question that I wanted to study abroad.

I am excited to share my trip with you! Enjoy!