 Maybe at this point you have decided to study abroad or you're still on the fence. I found out yesterday that I am going to Scotland. Wherever you are on that spectrum, I hope that me sharing my experience can inspire you towards it. And yes, this video is so dramatic that I want you to know that I have spent four months debating whether or not to upload it, because this is something that people do every day. I'm not special. Contrary to what my parents tell me, I'm just some girl. You don't really care. However, I have concluded that life is in fact dramatic and moving to another country is in fact dramatic. So much so that it will make you question almost everything about yourself and where you have grown up. I mean, unless you like have chill, but I, um, I have no chill. Let's go to the beginning. Hi, everyone. It is August 20th, 2021. It's like 10 o'clock at night. I'm leaving for Scotland in like two weeks. Man, I am, uh, I'm like nervous. I don't know like what if it's just not what it's gonna be in my head and like I tell myself like, oh, you know, I'm like trying to like lower my expectations, but like it's definitely hard to do when you've been thinking about something for literally almost two full years now. The internet is a wild place. Pretty much any person, place, or thing you want to know about is right at your fingertips. Before I came to Edinburgh, I watched so many YouTube videos trying to piece together what my experience would look like. And leaving home was not something that was new to me. I had already been to college out of state and moved to a big city by myself, but it felt different. We're talking time zones. We're talking eight-hour plane ride. We're talking cultural differences. We're talking being alone in an airport at 2 a.m. where you've missed your flight and everybody you know is fast asleep. And I was going somewhere where they speak the same language as to me. Sorry guys. So before I went, I watched and I read everything I could about culture in the UK. I planned things I wanted to do, how I was gonna set up my life, where I was gonna live, what I was gonna pack, what I was gonna need for the plane, how I was gonna make friends, but I did this. Oh, also, and you know, like makeup like made-up scenarios with people that you've never met in places you've never been because that's just what you do in life. That's just... That's just what you do, okay? I don't make the rules. But I did this for two calendar years, which is unhealthy, okay? Don't do this. Also, don't have a pandemic in there. And you know, because then it was just, that was just making crazy. If you know, if you can avoid the global pandemic, I would, that one is a tip that I would recommend for everyone. So the way that I can describe, you know, these imaginings of how your life will be is that it's like a big wave that you're surfing for a few months. And when you get on the plane, it's gonna crash. Now, I'm like, I'm like a confident person, like for the most part, but, um, ooh, like, obviously I feel like you have to have some confidence in like your abilities and your, you know, independence if you're willing to move across the country by yourself, but I'm sorry, across the world. Oh my god. I'm not saying that to like toot my own horn. I'm just, I don't know. I'm just talking. I'm just the first 24 hours of moving here is unlike any other I have ever experienced in my life. That plane ride was one of the scariest and most exciting moments of my whole life. I could have thrown up. I could have, because that shit's real, man. You know, you can't, you can't turn around a plane. Okay, you silly goose. You can't, because it's in this guy. So bring activities to distract yourself from the crisis. I recommend, um, I actually, I brought, I brought this book. Just talked over my whole bookshelf. It's Ruth Blair. Excellent distraction. Getting is power. As your body goes big, or your mind is flower. I just, it gets a little weird because it's like, I don't know who I, I have only existed in like comfortable spaces for the last year. Like I've only been like in my family dynamic or with like a really like good old friend. And, um, like I know who I am there, but then it's like some of that sometimes that becomes like not challenged, but just becomes different when you're on new people. And like I've just sort of like lost that part of myself it feels like. And I don't know, I guess it'll just come right back. I just want to, I don't know, I want people to like me. I think that's, that's, that's something that everybody wants. Like I just, I'm just like nervous. Like, what if the kids don't like me? And the reason I want to dedicate a whole video to this one aspect of leaving is this. It's going to shatter your imagination to pieces. Because at least for me it's like this just survival instinct kicked in. And I had this moment of realization where I was like absolutely nothing of what I had read or tried to figure out was going to be enough. I didn't really have a clue what I was getting myself into. And that's why I was so scared. I'm having as well as like a packing crisis, like an identity crisis, because I haven't worn like real people clothes in a year. And I showed you guys moments in an earlier vlog. And in that vlog I showed you guys what it was like that first night. And honestly, I came in the middle of the night. I finally got here. I think that I had been traveling for over 24 hours at that point. And also coming from a pandemic world, you know, I got here and I just have never felt more alone. I don't know how else to put that. I have never felt more alone in my whole entire life, but in like a really good way. That night it ended those imaginations and it sort of ended my feeling that, you know, going to maybe not ended my feeling because we got there's more to come. However, you know, this place wasn't going to save me. It wasn't going to make me have an incredible year. It was me. And I was now responsible for making my dreams come true. So the only thing that I could do at that point was go. So starting with my first piece of advice is number one. Say yes to as many things as you can.