School in Milan, Italy doesn’t start until the last week of September.

Therefore, while my St. Edward’s peers are conducting experiments on flies, analyzing Plato, and enjoying Frezians from the on-campus coffee shop, I have unfortunately been reduced to mundane days filled with way too many trips to Kohl’s (I suppose there is a such thing as too much of a good thing) and running errands for my mom.

I suppose this is what it feels like to have no purpose in life or to have no undergraduate degree to cuddle at night.

September 13just can’t get here fast enough. I cannot wait to be on that 10 hour flight, jetlagged and unable to communicate in the home nation’s language. I crave it more and more the longer I am still here. I’ve been reading roughly six travel books religiously, trying to absorb as much as possible before I am immersed into a strange, foreign place I’ll get to call home for three months.

Whenever I see anyone I know in my cozy little suburb, Katy, Texas, I immediately get asked the same question:

“What… why are you here…?”

Of course, I didn’t take offense to this statement. Even though it is usually spoken in a confused tone accompanied with a relatively negative expression, I knew (at least, I can only hope) that my fellow kind-hearted members of society are genuinely interested as to why I am still in Texas and not having the time of my life in Italy.

Well, that’s what happens when you decide to go to school in a different country with a different interpretation of when the academic year should start. I explained this to my question askers in simple terms, keeping the conversational tone light and not revealing that I am unhealthily close to buying the next ticket out to Italy and backpacking until the school year starts.

Of course, after explaining why I am still on home soil, everyone’s next question is to inquire into my excitement level for my trip. If I got paid a dollar for how many times I’ve said the sentence, “I am so excited, but a little nervous. I just don’t know what to expect,” (accompanied with a tasteful joke about my poor Italian skills / how I probably won’t be able to refrain from eating excessive carbs / how much nerdy planning I’ve attempted to do) I would probably be able to fund my entire trip by now.

I always knew I wanted to study abroad somewhere in Europe in college, as there is just something about Europe that I’ve always been obsessed with. I guess it’s the historical aspect of it; I just really like how bloody and great and twisted Europe’s history has been. History has always excited me, to the point where I once got a huge stack of World War II books from my mom on a casual day after school and I promptly devoured them in an afternoon.

Embarrassing details of my childhood aside, I chose to study in Milan because of its central location in Europe. I plan on travelling as many weekends as possible. I haven’t been saving up for a year to just sit in my Milanese apartment and eat buttered bread rolls (as appealing as that sounds to my introverted soul).

So yes, everyone, I am indeed still home. Just a tad longer home enjoying Chick-Fil-A, sweet tea, and all other things Southern before I venture on this “once in a lifetime opportunity”!