The Reason Why

I had a friend email me some questions asking why I am studying abroad and such and we both thought the answers to these questions would be a great blog post.

I will start with the reason why I am going. I am studying abroad for a few reasons. One, because ever since high school I have wanted to study abroad and travel the world (especially Europe) originally France was my country of choice but after weighing the pros and cons of taking courses in a foreign language I started looking at English speaking countries. After looking at schools in the Netherlands, Sweden, and England I obviously decided on England. My choice to study at the University of Hull in England came from discovering how many education classes (Elementary Education being my major) they had and assuming that at least one of them would transfer to NAU. I picked out a few education classes that sounded similar to the ones NAU offered and to my disappointment found out that not a single one would transfer for credit towards my major.
So, I spent a day in depression (Barry and Emily can attest to this) but the next day I decided that I wasn't going to let that stop. I knew God wanted me to go abroad, I could just feel it and I wasn't going to let a few credits get in my way. It was getting down to the wire and I had to scramble some elective last minute classes together and submit my application to the study abroad office. It was two days before my application was due and I received an urgent email that evening from my adviser explaining that my application needed to be in England by tomorrow. I was panicking and again started to doubt whether this was really possible, but thankfully God is so much bigger then deadlines. I managed (by the grace of God) to pull everything together that morning, and take my application to the study abroad office so that it could be faxed over to the University of Hull that day, and they received it and I was accepted. I also received a study abroad scholarship, the way everything was falling together perfectly I knew this was something that God wanted me to do because I couldn't have planned it this way even if I wanted to.

I also want to study abroad in Europe because I think that people often overlook that area of the world. So often we go on missions trips to third world countries (which is absolutely amazing and I am all for it), but we forget that there are countries in Europe that need Jesus Christ just as much. I want to be a light in England and the countries I travel to throughout Europe, I want to show them Jesus, real love, and hope. I pray I can do that in every aspect of my life while I am over there.

I was also asked, what do I hope to learn, and give back to England, and how do I want to grow while I am there. Since I am entering into a new culture, I really want to learn everything there is to know about European culture (I know, I know, cliche) and I want to share with them everything I have to offer (mainly Jesus and his love). Since I have never been out of the country and I have never been truly on my own I expect to grow in so many ways, I expect to become more outgoing since it will almost be a necessity, I expect to gain more confidence, and to stretch and grow in my relationship with God on a completely new level.

The last question I am going to answer (at least for tonight this post is getting rather long) is "What is the state of my heart as I am preparing to leave for England." Honestly, it is a mixture of emotions, I am so excited to finally be going I feel like I have been talking about it for so long and now it is coming to life, plus I get to see and discover a whole new part of the world. I feel anxious and nervous because I have no idea what to expect or really what is going to happen once I get over there, (and I am nervous about wandering around the airport all by myself.) I feel really stressed because I hate packing, and I have to pack up my life for 6 months in 100 pounds, and there is so much I still need to get done. I of course am feeling sad, I hate saying goodbye and I have been doing it for the past two weeks, its weird to think I won't be seeing any of these people for about 6 months, but I surprisingly haven't really cried yet (I know, I'm heartless!) and my last feeling I hate to say is jealousy. Seeing all my friends at NAU post pictures and statuses about their weeks, friends and routines, it makes me sad that I am going to be missing out. Of course I will have an amazing time, but I am going to miss everyone and my routine. I am going to miss going to class and seeing friend from IV, prayer team meeting (family hang out =]) bible study, Intervarsity, prayer lunch, having deep heartfelt discussions about Jesus, reading and trading books (even though I will still be doing that), grocery shopping, Northland, and randomly getting together with friends to eat, hang out, and enjoy each others company.

I hope this answers some questions that anyone had, and I apologize for how lengthy this post is