August 22, 2019
My name is Anna Garcia and the summer before this whole adventure starts has been interesting. I am from Brooklyn, New York but for the past two years I have called Madison, Wisconsin my home. My major is Communication Arts with a digital studies certificate. Honestly, as I am writing this and thought about studying abroad for a whole year, I am plain nervous. Living in a different country is completely out of my comfort zone. When I first thought about studying abroad, I was only a freshman in college. I knew I wanted to go abroad but I had no idea what I would be in for. My mom has always spoken so highly of studying abroad when she was a badger and I wanted to experience the same thing. I decided on London for a couple different reasons. First, I noticed that the University of Westminster had a lot of modules that included advertising and public relations classes. And second, I saw that it included an internship program. That looked like an amazing opportunity that I did not want to pass up. When I applied it was all a dream in my head and I cannot believe that I am now about to go. I don’t actually leave until September 13th but it is approaching quickly.
Figuring out the whole process is just plain difficult. Maybe I was just nervous about the whole visa portion.
For starters, I had to actually apply for the study abroad program but after I had to start planning. The visa application was definitely intimidating. TIP: As soon as you get the email about starting your visa, just do it. I didn’t think the visa email was really the visa email because I was working a lot and I did not pay enough attention to actually reading the email. I have now finished the visa process and my passport has been returned. Yet, I still have no idea how that process really worked. I just did what they told me and it seems to have worked out. I needed a visa because I would be studying in London for the full year and I plan on doing the internship program. The visa is not exactly the most exciting thing to do and I was definitely confused on how it worked but there are definitely more fun things to do when planning for studying abroad.
I decided to do a little research about London and any fun activities and cool places to see. I have a tendency to do a lot of research about places to go and what it looks and how to get there so I can feel as comfortable as I can when traveling to a new place. I did this right before going to college in Wisconsin because I was from Brooklyn, New York and didn’t have a lot of experience going to a new place with completely no one there that I knew. Traveling by myself is 100% out of my comfort zone but I can feel this exciting chapter in my life coming closer and closer and it is amazing. One thing I have been wanting to plan is a concert to go to in London. I have been looking into Tones and I recently. I am obsessed with her three single she came out with this year. She has an EP coming out on August 30th that I am excited about. She’s performing in November in London. I am currently trying to figure out who would come with me.
Leading up to leaving, the university sends a lot of emails about what to expect and some details about orientation and the social program. It all looks like a lot but if you read carefully, all the information is really important and helpful. TIP: Do not throw away your official acceptance letter! I did not think that I would need it and turns out I do when traveling into the country and for the orientation. Don’t worry too much if you do throw it out because you can email the university and everyone is really nice and helpful. They scanned me a new one but I was definitely nervous for a second.
I still have to figure out how I am going to pack all my stuff and if I am going to ship anything over there. I think the only thing I don’t love about traveling somewhere for a long time is how exactly I get my things there.