Two years ago today, I boarded a plane for London, the first stop on my Oxford study abroad trip. An adventure that would span ten weeks, nine countries and provide me with an array of amazing memories. I met some tremendously interesting and entertaining people, some of whom I am fortunate enough to still be in contact with today. To borrow the words of a fellow classmate, this was a trip that changed my life forever.
But how did I get here?
After spending several years attending Irvine Valley College with little consistency, I made the decision to pursue school seriously in 2008. Easing back in to the college life, I took only two classes in the Spring of '08. However, I quickly realized that if I wanted to make up for lost time, I needed to enroll in full time coursework. Frustrated by a lack of quality English teachers at Irvine Valley College and searching for alternative science classes to Biology, I enrolled concurrently at Saddleback College in the Fall of 2008. Though I knew I wanted to take a full schedule of classes, I was unsure about my working life at the time and was only able to officially register for one class. To add the other four classes, I needed to go to each class and petition for admission. I found an English professor that was highly rated online and hoped to get into that class, my first at Saddleback. Our professor informed the class that she would only be able to add four people and there were eight people hoping to enroll in the class. Each student was instructed to pick a number from a hat and only the lowest numbers would be added. To my surprise, the first four people drew the four highest numbers and were not admitted to the class. I was fortunate to be admitted without having to draw. My luck would continue as I was easily able to enroll in Anthropology and its lab as well as Economics. On a walk through campus, I came across a sign that read: "Oxford Study Abroad." On a whim, I decided to email the professor running the program for more information. She invited me to an information session where she explained the different aspects of the program. Immediately I was sold. I knew I wanted to take this trip, I just needed to figure out how I was going to make it work.
Shortly thereafter I reached out to friends and family for support. My boss was generous enough to provide me with one of the letters of recommendation needed for the trip and my best friend co-signed for my loan. By the time Spring rolled around, I could barely contain my enthusiasm. The eight weeks of classes flew by and before I knew it, I was packing for the trip. Prior to departure, I met with many of my fellow travelers and we planned a trip to Dublin. I was thrilled to meet others who were as genuinely as excited as I was and looking to experience as much of Europe as possible.
On the day of the trip, I was dropped off at LAX, prepared to embark on what has been my longest solo flight to date. I had only been out of the country once and I was eleven at the time. So much had changed in those fifteen years, but I was ready for whatever lay ahead. Although I have always been a person who thrives amongst his friends, I was finally doing something alone, a big something and I couldn't be more excited. There were no expectations, no ideas for what the next ten weeks had in store for me, but that didn't matter...it was all about the journey.
And now...
Almost daily I find myself reminiscing about the trip, from magazines I read to the classes I take, it seems like there's something that is always bringing me back to Oxford. And even though I know it would never be the same, I wish that we could go back and experience it all over again. My classmate was right, this trip certainly changed my life, so much so that I'm strongly considering the prospect of moving to London after graduation in 2012.
Cheers Oxford, I'll see you in 2012!
