Thailand

Look at this program brochure and tell me how awesome it would be to do it.....

http://studyabroad.unc.edu/programs.cfm?pk=1901



Help me decide! I'm so torn :/

Being a Nomad

I wondered how I would feel once I got settled in here. I thought either I would be real homesick of Chapel Hill because I like it there and it has been a great couple of years, or I would love London and want to stay here after the program ends. As it turns out, I feel completely in the middle, and I think that may be something I will feel for a long time. After I lost the more traditional and predictable parents as the core type of family (I really don't mean for this to be a sob statement), I decided, without my knowing, that I was going to enjoy aspects of wherever I am but still always want to keep going somewhere else. When I lived in my hometown in Ohio in10th grade, I kept telling my mom how I wanted to move to NC, and then once I was there, all I could think about was getting to college. Now, don't get me wrong, I have not wished my life away by any means, I have enjoyed all of my time in chapel hill and wilmington, but a part of me has always been okay with the notion of just going somewhere new. So I decided to study abroad in London, and before I knew it, before I could even get to London, I was planning on the possibility of going to Bangkok immediately following the London program.....a trend is forming. I was close to deciding not to finish my application for the program in the spring to Thailand, but a part of me hated the notion of me not having an option to keep on moving once I left Chapel Hill. I think part of the situation is me wanting to explore and experience everything I can while I am in this point of my life, but also I think a large part of it is me being scared of hitting of stopping point, or constant, in my life, as it is relatively foreign to me since I was in my adolescence. It will be interesting to see when, or how, I become accustomed to one place enough for me to stay for a few years without thinking of my next step. Maybe I will never hit that point, some people, like my sister for example, are always enchanted with the idea or traveling. Others, like one of my brothers, can completely settle somewhere for a long time as long as he has people around him that will make him happy and stable. As for Thailand, that decision is still completely up in the air. I don't want to screw up my chances of setting up a good track record for grad schools by taking another semester away, but at the same time I can see myself being totally happy being in a place like that for my second part of this year. I do miss my family and being able to see some people more consistently, but I do enjoy this time in my life where everything around me is new, unpredictable, and downright exciting. If anyone ever finds an equation that includes all of those variables equaling a place for me to be....then by all means, share your knowledge. For now, I am going to continue living my very exciting and eccentric life here in London. Goodnight

damn those "holes in the wall"

A quick note to those traveling from the states to another country....be very attentive to the atm machine while getting money out. Not only has one person in our group gotten their PIN number stolen because he didn't stand close enough to the machine while putting in his number, but I myself made an annoying mistake 2 nights ago when getting money out. In the states, the money comes out first....then your card, and you are on your way. Not only that, but the there is a loud beeping noise when your card is pushed out so that you don't walk away without it. Well, here in London, the "holes in the walls" here not only make no sounds when your card is pushed out, but it is pushed out first, and only a tiiiiiny bit out of the machine, barely visible unless you are looking for your damn card. So alas, last night I was talking with my friends Pat and Tyler as I was getting money out of the machine, and I was just standing there, waiting for money to be sent out. Little did I know that my card was waiting for me in the tiny slot, and before I could catch it, the card was retained and a message read "Your card is currently being shredded, please contact your personal bank". So there you have it, Cory is in a foreign country, with no phone, and no atm card to get money out. I was a little overwhelmed for a few hours, but then Tyler and Pat took me out and bought be a few pints at a pub nearby. So with that coupled with a good skype talk with my sister (aka my skype guardian angel), I was feeling okay about it all. No worries anymore, and I have learned a lesson....I suppose.

Futbol

So yesterday our group went to a football game between the Queen's Park Rangers and Watford. It wasn't a Premiership game, but it was the next best thing (like the minor leagues in MLB). Let's just say it lived up to those expectations of a bunch of English people going absolutely crazy for their team. It was great to experience it because I could really see myself getting into a team here if I was a native Londoner. Overall the whole day was fun too because before the game our group went to a pub (to great the full football day experience, of course), and it was great to have all 20 of us together having a few drinks and having a good time. As you may tell in my title of my last picture album, I am surprised in how great our group gets along. There is definitely a good bit of diversity as far as personality and interests and values go, but we all mix together very well, and our niches and what we want our London experience to be has fit perfectly so far. I have met a few people already that I can see being some of my best friends in college, as you might be able to tell by me being in about 286 pictures with them in my albums. So yeah, I am excited to see what a whole semester with them will bring.

family

I do miss them. I never realized how much they are more like my best friends than the traditional sense of people you love unconditionally solely off the fact that you grew up together. I am grateful that my family consists of people I would actually choose to be close with, even if we all didn't come out of the same vagina at the start of our days....(weird choice of words there)

ALLmost lost it on that one

So last night was pretty awesome. Andy Sapna and I went to a concert in Camden town to see a band called Anberlin at the Underworld (music venue). It was a pretty kickass show, the guys had a sound like Cartel or Fallout Boy but not nearly as cheesy in my opinion. Anyways, I have this thing where when I drink I like to run everywhere instead of walking because I don't think about getting tired (because I am drunk). So last night, after the show I decided to jet away from the group as a joke. Well, when I finally looked back for them they were nowhere to be found. I suppose I had run farther than I expected. So here I am, about 2 miles from my flat, alone, and it is about midnight or 1 in the morning....not smart. I decided to jog it out rather than backtrack and try to find them, so I ran....and ran....and then ran some more. In the end, I ended up jogging/walking about 3 miles since I got lost, BUT I sound many kickass pubs and museums along the way it ended up being an awesome lil journey home alone. Yes, it was somewhat scary roaming London at very late hours in the night alone, but hey, what better way to get to know a city than be lost and scared crapless by yourself?