Off on the Grand Adventure!

In my brother's bedroom, my two rolling suitcases are packed and locked, and my two carry-ons are waiting for last minute filling with my toiletries and my purse.

I have packed everything I will need for a year in two medium-size rolling bags, one rather large carry-on, and one rather reasonably-sized carry-on, which, for a Texan woman, is a Herculean accomplishment. I suspect it may be aided by the fact that my clothes and shoes are all slightly smaller than average. Originally, I had packed a very large rolling bag, but it had to be unpacked and returned when I discovered that, far from lifting it, I could hardly manage to roll it when fully stuffed, seeing as it weighed something over half of what I do.

It is difficult for me not to compare this English adventure with my time in Belgium, but I try not to. I really had very little impetus to go to Belgium, besides the fact that I had heard that study abroad was good for both the soul and the resume, and I had been told that Scottish brogue did not qualify as acquiring a second language. And, while I did have some lovely excursions on the continent, I really did not much enjoy my time in Brussels, and it has given rather a bad taste to "study abroad" in my mind. So, I am consciously attempting to think of this as My Grand English Adventure, a thing much more exciting and charming than mere study abroad.

And really, I think that this time around, things will go much better. I am actually excited the night before, rather than shaking in fear. Oh, I'm nervous, of course - anyone would be, on relocating to strange climes for a year. But there are several thoughts which never cease to calm my fears...

First, and foremost, I have the prayers of many dear friends and the grace of a perfect God going with me. How easy it is to feel the Lord's love when what seems like a thousand friends are ranged as my prayer warriors, asking for my safety and my sanity and that I be used as a light to others.

Second, it must be admitted that the (ostensible) lack of a language barrier comforts me. While I know that British English and American English are probably more different than I have yet realized, the essential fact is that I should be able to communicate coherently with the average person on the street, without having to rack my brain for obscure verb tenses and odd vocabulary words not taught in class. I had a thoroughly useless habit when speaking French of falling back into Latin when I lost the French word for a thing...a dreadful side effect of private school, I suppose, is that it becomes slightly inconceivable that the whole world has not been educated in basic Latin.

Third, I am simply thrilled by all the descriptions of the MA program I am going into! I get to roll around in reams of details about English country houses and Victorian novels and the social status of children and all that sort of thing that turns me inside out with mental delight.

Oh, AND I get to spend more than a week in London!

That's what I'm doing first, actually. I go to Fulbright Orientation, then I have a week in London before my accommodation in Leicester opens its doors. And so I intend to see Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London, the Victoria and Albert museum and the Windsor Castle Victorian doll collection, the Thames and Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and everything! I want to ride a double-decker bus and go into Harrod's and take the tube and wander in bookstores and generally soak in history until I am drunk on stories.

And so I and my four suitcases (and one loveable, long-suffering, and currently rather squashed stuffed pony) are about to set out on our Grand UK Adventure.

My friends, relations, and loves of all descriptions - I welcome your prayers, your suggestions, your communications, and your thoughts. Thank you for all you do for me -

Now read along and (almost) come with me!