Kick-off, Inauguration, Opening Night, and other words that refer to the start of something

It’s been my goal to start this blog at Barriques, my all-time favorite coffee shop and self-proclaimed center of my world, and I have finally made it.

Barriques is the perfect place to start my journaling of this traveling adventure not just because I frequent here at least once a week to order my hazelnut au lait, or because I’ve studied for many a high school exam at these tables (insert ‘Ode to AP Euro’ here.) And even though nearly every Middleton-based friendship I have can be traced back via multiple coffee dates at Barriques; it’s more-so because it is from this very spot, in the brown leather chair between the fireplace and the wall of windows that I’ve gazed out into the rain and thought “I could imagine myself being in Europe at this moment.”

And now I’m going.

For those of you who don’t know (and those who do), I’m going to be studying abroad this fall with a program called England Term based out of my school, Bethel University. It’s a travel intensive program that is taught by two Bethel professors (one for each half of the semester) as we travel through Scotland, Ireland & England (though we’ll also spend a few days in Paris.) We’ll be taking three classes: Literature on Location, Drama in Great Britain, & Travel Writing. A dream, I know. There are 25 other students in the program with me. We will be leaving August 17th at 9:15 PM out of Minneapolis, MN, and returning on December 3rd.

I’ve gone through the denial phase already and I hope that I’m fully out of it now; that was July. Today I’m excited, and I can’t believe that in two weeks I’m actually going to be flying to the UK on England Term, the program I’ve been planning on attending ever since I was a prospective Bethel student. Dreams can become reality. That’s good to know.

So I hope you will enjoy taking this journey with me. I’m very excited about keeping this blog, which should be obvious if you know me. I LOVE communication and staying connected.

Stay tuned.

Melissa