As I sit here this August 28, listening to the splattering of rain as hurricane Irene storms down upon Jersey, I can't help but think of another rainy place: an island northwest of Europe, full of castles, tea and cars driving on the wrong side of the road. If you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes, goes the saying there. If only I had such luck right now...
But alas I am not in England.
Three years ago, however, I was. Or rather, I was flying over the Atlantic with my boarding pass proclaiming my "World Traveller" status and reading Kushiel's Avatar, a fantasy adventure novel that just so happened to follow another world traveller.
I often tell people that my time in Wroxton, England was the best time of my life. Sometimes it seems like a silly thing to say, especially as the time between then and now stretches and I grow ever further away from those memories. Little moments slip away into the recesses of my mind; memories fade and curl at the edges, turning sepia in my mind. Can it really have already been three years since I waited in Newark airport, eager and nervous, looking around at all the people who seemed to already know each other and worrying how I would survive the semester with only knowing 1 other person?
It's always scary to go to a new place without knowing anyone, or only knowing one or two people. It was scary then, and it's scary now (as I am moving to Virginia). However, sometimes in life, it's those scary moments that you need. Just do it. Wroxton was scary at first, but it was ultimately what I needed, and I look back on those days with nostalgia. Hopefully now will be the same thing, and it will be a chance to forge new, exciting memories.
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