This little lady left me for the other side of the world today. That's my baby sister and she's headed to study abroad in Italy until DECEMBER. Cue my sobs.
My emotions this morning are as follows: sadness, excitement, nervousness, happiness, jealousy.
Sad because I'm going to miss her just a wee bit.
Excited because as study abroad veteran myself {two-timer here}, I know just how much fun she is going to have.
Nervous because she's my baby sister, who shouldn't even be old enough to be going to the other side of the world by herself.
Happy because I know she is about to embark on the time of her life.
Jealousy because I wish it were me! Unfortunately, my current lifestyle does not allow for rendezvous on the other side of the world for months at a time. Boo.
In order to ensure that her experience does not turn out like the train wreck we have witnessed on the Jersey Shore, I have inundated her with tips and advice from my past experiences traveling abroad, as her big sister that's my job. I shared a few of those on my personal blog, but thought I'd share a few here as well. You can read the complete post over here.
- limoncello is not your friend.
- get used to climbing stairs.
- knowing your way around a train station will come in handy. always double check to make sure you’re on the right train before it leaves the station. learned this one the hard way.
- take every cheesy tourist picture against your better judgement. throwing coins in the trevi fountain in rome. holding up the leaning tower of pisa. running down the spanish steps. do it, despite how foolish you think you look.
- the best way to get to know a city—walk. just start and keep going. you’ll end up exactly where you want to be.
- take a table outside.
- write everything down. everything. one day you’ll want to read it. trust.
- keep an open mind. take everything in stride. if you don’t keep high expectations, you will constantly be pleasantly surprised.
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