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Wednesday, July 8, 2020

A Ticket to Paradise


In mid-July, I booked my one-way ticket to London. I had just applied for my Visa, as I would be needing this if I wanted to have any chance at ever becoming a citizen of Europe. although I spent the entire day of summer working and making preparations to say my final farewell, the fateful September day still came far sooner than I had anticipated. this would be the day that I would depart for the better part of 2 years, save the occasional visit to friends and family. Call a trial separation, if you will, from the land that I had called home for the first 23 years of my life. 

Waiting in the airport for several hours leading up to the flight was enough to drive anybody mad. However, I would soon arrive in England for the first time, after a six-hour long sleep-deprived layover in Reykjavik, and nearly forty hours of sleeplessness. Ten hours and five time zones later, I would be landing in Heathrow Airport for the first time ever, to begin the beginning of the rest of my life.

I met my first roommate, Austin, barely an hour into my first journey in Europe’s third biggest city (right behind St. Petersburg and Istanbul). He was happy to see me, and we embraced for a solid minute. We had no idea how to navigate public transport at this time, though, so we ended up taking whatever bus we Thought would get us to campus in a decent enough fashion.

After getting off at a random stop, still a twenty-minute walk from campus, we decided to call an Uber. It was dark out, and somebody had thrown an egg in our direction (which shattered against the bus stop’s window), so we wanted to get out of there fast. Security had no idea who we were upon arrival, but we were able to get a spare room until ours were ready in the morning. Austin crashed on the floor with his sheets, and I passed out for nine straight hours on my bed.

When I woke, I realized that I would be beginning the next step in the journey I call my life – I now spent the first night in my new home base for at least the next two years.

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