Still Waiting for School
Now that I am done with my month-and-a-half internship, I’m just waiting for school to start. Without a doubt, you are sitting in front of your screen, absolutely appalled by that statement. I’ll explain.
I am currently sitting in my cousin’s house, in Bydgoszcz, Poland, listening to the blender make a delicious plum cake mix. School in Poland doesn’t start until the beginning of October. Between that and my very slow job, I’ve had the longest summer of my life, and I am itching to go back to school and participate in classes. (Of course, most of my classmates are post-first exams, so I know that they likely greatly dislike me now.)
Some of you may be curious as to why I am in Poland, especially during the fall semester of my sophomore year. Well, ever since high school, I wanted to study abroad in Poland; my entire family lives here, minus my parents and two second cousins. That and I want to improve my Polish. As we all know, living in a country is the number one method to learning a language. Therefore, study abroad was one of the number one aspects during my own college search. Unfortunately, Poland is not a hotspot for studying abroad. On the positive side, Vanderbilt permits you to study abroad anywhere you want. Of course, you have to find a program and ensure that all of the logistics are settled before you hop on a plane, but you still have the option to study abroad in countries that Vanderbilt may not offer.
While the process may not be as simple as going through a Vanderbilt program (although, I cannot compare the processes as I only went through the non-Vandy program process), if your heart is settled on a country, the experience is worth every meeting, every bit of paperwork, and every second of preparation, including the occasional frustration and worry.
24.09.2011 – I can’t believe it’s nearly been been a month since I prepared this post!