Help! (By: Megan Michael)

I really need to find a place to study abroad. I just have to. I’m addicted. I’ve spent the better part of my weekend going blind reviewing different study abroad websites. Sure, I had homework: a few essays, a discussion board, and things of that nature. I even half-heartedly filled out some note cards for my statistics exam today. All that work seemed to take a back seat to my own little project I have assigned myself: find a place to study abroad.

See, I spent a little over six weeks of this past summer wandering the streets of London, England. This was by far the scariest and most exciting thing I’ve done in the past 20 years. Scary because I knew no one when I got there. Exciting because I knew everyone when I left. I even keep in contact with a few people from the trip via Skype, and the occasional long distance phone call. Sometimes we just text the main phrase from an inside joke, it’s usually enough to get the memories flowing.

My trip was out of this world, I even got to take The Beatles tour! I learned so much. Cheesy, I know but I seriously did though! Not just school stuff mind you; I learned real stuff! I am now quite skilled at hailing a taxi. I mastered how to use the underground railway system. I know to watch my purse in crowded places. (I actually learned that last one the hard way.) Basically, I studied a number of different things the glorious city of Riverside just can’t offer me.

I also learned a lot about people, and in some cases more than I wanted to know. Those things tend to happen on long trips such as this one. I prepared myself to be exposed to the different cultures across the world but I had no idea different cultures across my own country existed. How ignorant, right? Needless to say, I feel much more cultured then I did the day my parents dropped me off at the LAX airport and hugged me goodbye. Well, more than just hugged me goodbye. Believe me. I really thought security was going to have to escort my sobbing mother out of the building.

While I am happy to be back in my own comfort zone, surrounded by palm trees and fast-food joints, I still feel this incredible urge to travel, to see new things, and to meet new people. Thus, I have been frantically searching for a place to spend my next summer in. You have to help me! I’m thinking something more tropical, but keep in mind I have naturally frizzy hair. I really want to submerge myself in a culture, but I still need my Starbucks! I’m going to set aside quite a bit of money, so also keep in mind the currency rates. Maybe someplace hot, but not too hot because I just can’t handle that. Okay. Any suggestions?



Tea time, amazing!


Nap time, equally amazing!

Meggie Michael

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