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We made it. 50 days zipped by pretty quickly. There have been times when all that has gotten me through the day was Mapquesting Ormskirk. Other days, I barely think about England as my “leisurely” summer has exploded into something much more the opposite. Tonight Abby stayed up until midnight just so we could count down to 50. Over dramatic? Yes. Silly? Yes? Unessessary in the grand scheme of things? Of course. Had I been looking forward to this moment for three days? Hell yes.
I’m ready. We are both ready. We’ve been so ready to go for so long that I think these last 50 days are going to be either the fastest or the shortest days of our lives. We’ve done the research…too much research. I know the street names and major intersections in Ormskirk. I don’t know the street names in Davenport. I know the best places to shop and eat within a 25 mile radius of Ormskirk. I’ve picked out my cell phone and the plan to go with it, looked up hotel rates, train tickets and average shopping prices for every major city in Brittain. I’ve packed and repacked my suitcase more times than I can count. I’ve looked up all of the farmer’s markets and google pedometered myself virtually around the larger part of the English Countryside. I’ve even got a favorite soccer–er, football–team. I considered buying the jersey online so I’m prepared for arrival. I’ve gotten the phone number of every friend-of-a-friend who lives in Europe with several open invitations to stay, including ex-soap opera stars and members of Brittish parliament. (Hey, it helps to have friends in high places). I’ve been listening to songs about England, watching movies about England, reading books about england and cooking English recipes for the last 3 weeks. Hell, I’ve gone on internet dating sites and messages people in Ormskirk, just to ask them about their favorite restaurants and the best places to buy postage stamps. I’ve seen every picture and video of Ormskirk that Google, Flickr and Youtube has to offer. I check Ebay for “ormskirk” and “Edge Hill” every day…just in case. Not a day has gone by when Abby hasn’t texted me with some Fun Fact about England or I haven’t stumbled across some random site that I had to immediately facebook to her.
I think it is safe to say that we are going to be prepared.
I need this. I need this more than I think anyone, even Abby, understands. I need to get away. I need to experience new things, meet new people, live differently. I need to prove to myself that I can survive on my own, and I need to see that there is a world outside of cornfields and auditions and crappy summer jobs. I want to be a part of the real world, the world that I only see in glossy travel brochures and airline ads.
I’ve made the decision that I’m going to write a book. I think I’ve known for awhile that something would come out of this, but tonight with the decision to move our blog to wordpress (in the hopes that our ramblings might some day help a fellow traveler) also came my decision that I’m going to record this. I need to remember this. This may be my one shot, and I want to share it. Every bit of it. The bad stuff, the good stuff, and the great stuff. I’m going to write it all down.
Right now, I’m exhausted and I can’t think of anything to write. All I’ve managed is “I need to get out of here” or some variation thereof for the past 15 minutes. And maybe that’s saying something. I think, really, no matter what happens, the very act of separating myself from my current surroundings will be enough to spark some sort of creativity.
In 50 days, we will be in England.
God, I love the sound of that.
Our home for the next year--The Milton House. (Which is ridiculously hard to find a picture of.) Supposedly haunted, but we will see about that.
1. Fill out your application. Try not to beg too much. Several actual quotes from my application:
Why do you think this course will be of benefit?
“Studying for the year will give me the opportunity to experience the full spectrum of seasons and culture that the UK has to offer. In addition, it will offer me ample time to travel and to finally get to see the world.”
And then the kicker.
Please provide additional information:
“I have always wanted to travel and to see the world, and this opportunity is a once in a lifetime chance that I am more excited for than I can possibly express.”
Translation: PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF SWEET JESUS GIVE ME A VISA!!!! It’s hard to hear what I’m trying to say over the sound me of kissing butt.
2: Pay the exorbitant fee. Check. (pun).
3: Plan your appointment. Wednesday, July 23rd, 11:00 AM, Norridge, IL.
4. Make travel arrangements. Here in this case, Abby and I will travel with my parents as my dad has an appointment that same day.
5. Check and recheck your documents. (Which, in this case, really doesn’t matter that much because we still have to mail in everything seperately).
6. Arrive at Visa Office at 10:50.
7. Get fingerprints scanned into computer. Get nervous because your finger prints keep coming back as 64% matches to terrorists. Assure nice lady working that you aren’t, in fact, a terrorist. She doesn’t laugh.
8. Leave by 11:00.
9. Realize that we are stuck in Chicago with my parents for another 9 hours.
10. Consider jumping out of the car as we pass by the airport.
11. Poke each other every time we see a plane pass over head because in 55 days that will be us.
The milestone of 75 has come and gone, and now we are nearly to the halfway point of 50. (Okay, so today is day 72, but it FEELS like it’s a lot sooner). It’s odd, though. The longer the days seem, the quicker the time seems to fly by. Applications, forms, lists, packing…its vaguely overwhelming but yet reassuring to know that we still have almost 3 months to prepare.
Speaking of preparation, our UK Student Visa appointments are set for the 23rd of July, so hopefully I didn’t screw mine up too incredibly badly. Visa applications, are, by the way, incredibly ridiculous and filled with many detailed and tricksily worded questions. My hope is that they just want my $208 dollars and will read the little essay I wrote in the “additional comments” section about how I’ve always wanted to see the world and this is my one chance and please please please give me a visa.
I will update and share how the visa getting experience goes, but in a nutshell, these are the steps: fill out online visa application, get appointment for them to collect “biometric data”, which is a fancy way of saying they are scanning our fingerprints to make sure we aren’t terrorists. THEN, we mail our forms to the UK embassy and THEN they decide whether or not we deserve a visa. It’s quite the process.
In also quite exciting news, Abby finally got the good word that she shall be staying for the entire year. So that dreadful grey cloud of 1/2 yearing it has disspated. Things just keep getting better.
I was inspired to write today because I found THIS online today.
Via Cesare Sersale, 1/3
Naples 80100 Italy
This is the address to the Pizzeria da Michele. Supposedly, they have the best pizza in the entire world. I don’t know. But I will. And I know. I know it sounds stupid and overly romantic and basically …cheesy (sorry), but to me, this isn’t just an exotic address or location in a far-away land.
This is…reality. This is my..our..chance to see the world, to actually get to do all of the things we’ve ever wanted to see and do. And sure, maybe going to Naples to eat a 4 Euro pizza sounds like a trivial and really rather mundane thing to do. But to me–this is it. This is what happiness feels like. Knowing, that in 72 days we will be on a plane bound for England. And from there, literally, the entire world will open its doors to us. We only have to step inside. And that, my friend, is what this experience is all about.
