School has been out for two weeks and I’m settling into a new rhythm of work, plan, sleep, repeat. What I’ve learned from this is that exhaustion can settle in quickly after being at work all day dealing with unpleasant customers and then coming home trying to find a cheap Airbnb that’s decently close to the city center and good tours and appropriate footwear. However, preparations are necessary for this scale of trip and I’m not one to put this kind of work off to the last minute (now homework is a different story, but we don’t need to talk about my procrastination skills there).
See, this trip doesn’t compare to my high school exchange at all. For Bosnia, I worked over the summer, but I was only 17 and my job wouldn’t schedule me for more than 20 hours – mainly because they didn’t have those hours to give. I didn’t think about saving because I knew I would have a stipend and I didn’t have to do any planning, because my coordinators in Washington DC were arranging our flights, our host families, and our school. All we had to do was fill out whatever paperwork they sent us.
This time, I’m working two jobs – one full-time and the other just to fill in the gaps. This time, I’m making sure that I stash away money for both my internship, travels, and my actual semester. Which let me tell you, is harder than it sounds given the fact I work at a shoe store and want to buy literally anything cute and on sale. Then there’s the other part of this where I am planning an entire month in Europe with Ashley. We have all our flights booked as well as all our Airbnb’s which is very exciting! But apparently we’ve realized we are both the most frugal, yet picky people to be planning anything. It took us an entire evening to choose an Airbnb and a train. Just one! Luckily, the majority of the trip is planned out. Just a few more gaps to fill! Meaning if you have any recommendations of places to visit or foods to try, let me know!
Then there’s the general preparations of stuff I need to do before I leave. Like going down to LA for the day to get my Lithuanian student visa. Now, as cool as it sounds to say “oh, I’m jetting down to Los Angeles in the morning to get some paperwork done and then maybe I’ll take a stroll on the beach before I catch my evening flight,” I have to be honest… I’m not looking forward to wandering around LA by myself for a day, but I suppose it’s good practice for the semester ahead of me. At least this round I’ll have a working data plan and still be in my own country!
Next on the list is maid of honor duties for my sister’s wedding, which won’t be until I return from Lithuania. Those plans are a little more complicated just due to the rush of getting some things done before my departure, so I won’t bore you with crazy details such as ordering dresses that keep going out of stock or figuring out venues.
However, despite all the snooze-inducing tasks I have to get done, they all lead up to one thing – my semester abroad. And believe you me, every time I talk about getting on that plane I get excited all over again and cannot wait to get my roommates and my internship details and meet new people, see different places, and eat fantastic food. Like… it’s been years since I’ve had ćevapi and bosanska kafa so I’m going to go crazy when I land in Sarajevo and I can’t even imagine how hysterical I’ll be everywhere else.
Anyway, I better get back to figuring out tours and deciding whether or not I really need another pair of shoes for my trip.
Until Los Angeles or I have more details,
– Kate
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