Let's Start at the Very Beginning

A very good place to start.

I've always wanted to have a blog. The first blog I ever stumbled upon on the wide world of the internet was Undressed Skeleton by Taralynn McNitt. I was 21 years old and was on a heath kick, attempting to lose twenty pounds in one month, or something ridiculous like that. Over the past several years I have watched her blog transform, change, and grow. I have also discovered many other bloggers whom I've grown to check in on frequently. I follow beauty bloggers, lifestyle bloggers, foodie bloggers, organization bloggers (save all the printables!!), and stay at home mom bloggers. Now, five years after I discovered my first blog, it is time for me to start the journey for myself. 

I've always been nervous to start a blog. Though bloggers are just everyday people (cue Sly and the Family Stone), there is a celebrity-like quality to them... those snapchats of vacations every other weekend, the perfectly placed Instagram shot, their ability to take a mirror pic without looking like a preteen on MySpace. Though I am on social media quite frequently, it leaves me with a certain distaste, as if everything is a facade, a charade of sorts. I have been left with this strange longing to have those perfect pictures that say to the world "Yes! I am fun! I have a fabulous life!" Yet, I despise the means it takes to get there. Seeing people take selfies in public makes me cringe. I am just young enough to be familiar with and quite adept at the world of social media. Yet I am just old enough to (attempt) not fall victim to the social media madness and self-absorbed lifestyle that has taken over our generation. However, I did have to choose a catchy name for this blog just in case I decide to transform myself into one of those celebrity bloggers. But I digress.

I am not starting this blog so I can post pictures of my cute outfits everyday, to give makeup advice, or show you how I've decorated my home (although that may happen in a few months when my boyfriend and I move into our new home!). The main purpose of this blog is to document my experiences of living abroad for a month. Its actually three weeks, but I like to exaggerate and call it a month. 

In April I was awarded a scholarship to take a graduate level summer program at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The scholarship was awarded to me by the Greensboro chapter of an organization called the English Speaking Union. They strive to unite speakers of English all across the globe in appreciation of literature, theatre, history, and the fine arts. They have graciously paid for my tuition, room and board, and flights to and from the UK. I am one of approximately 30 people in America that were selected for this opportunity. It is a great honor. Though I was admitted to Oxford at the beginning of May, the final details of my travel were not hammered out until the very last minute. Needless to say, it is been a whirlwind and hectic past few days. Regardless, all tickets have been booked and I am officially leaving for the United Kingdom tomorrow evening. Now I just have to read the prerequisite textbooks I've been avoiding all summer...

I get to spend a month at this place! Surreal.

I plan to blog once a day. Lofty goals. I will take lots of pictures and post a daily diary with pictures here. In actuality it will probably fade to every couple of days, but still. I have the memory of a gold fish, and if I do not take measures to create the memories, they will be gone by next year. It's sad but true. I cannot remember the vast majority of my childhood and even some of my college years, but that was probably for a different reason... So I am going to document as much as I can so that I will always be able to look back and appreciate the time I spent overseas. 

I'm not going to go into detail about myself or my life here. If you're reading this there's a 99.9996% chance you already know me, so I won't waste your time or mine. If you're interested in my journey, feel free to follow along. Or if you start to miss me horribly while I am away for a month, feel free to leave a comment or email me. I will be without cell phone service while I'm abroad, so this blog, email, and social media will be my main forms of communication. I look forward to sharing my journey with myself, my family and friends, and maybe some random man in Florida that stumbles across my blog at 2am one morning while searching for a mail order Russian bride. 

I'm off to continue reading (read: get past chapter one) in my textbook. Tomorrow evening my journey begins. Wish me luck!