Student Bloggers

Forty-nine days in Scotland, and fifty-seven left to go. Thus far, I’ve been to multiple historical sites, clubs, pubs, you name it, I’ve been to at least one of them. That being said, I recently took a moment last week to sit down, and write in my journal all the things I really want to do before I leave my study abroad experience. I was evaluating what I have done, my daily patterns, and how I can make some new goals and changes to get the most out of my remaining limited weeks overseas. 

My list read as follows:

1. Collect more souvenirs; not from shops or boutiques but from nature. Flowers to press, sand, dirt, water, anything that when I come home will give me a real connection to the land that I was living in.
2. Make more drawings; when I come home I am going to be rushed immediately into the Christmas and holiday atmosphere, I’m going to start working again, and life is going to get so much more hectic and busy than it is now. So my second goal for my last fifty-seven days is to make a drawing a day, big or small, complicated or not, just to build that portfolio of work that I want to have when I leave.
3. Wake up earlier; while I’m sure we all love to sleep in I’ve realized I may not be taking advantage fully of my mornings here in Glasgow. I’m going to have plenty of time to sleep in my cozy bed as the snow falls in Pennsylvania when I get home, so I really need to kick myself into high gear and make my days longer!
4. Go to a Scottish beach / island; there are so many in the surrounding area of Glasgow that only take a small amount of planning and effort, and I would regret not seeing at least one cloudy, rainy, Scottish island before I left!
5. Take more everyday pictures; as I looked through my phone I realized I have all these beautiful pictures of the landmarks and the scenery of places I have been. But, what I don’t have, is just pictures of my day to day scene, my surroundings, my studio, and all the things that I’m going to want to show people when I get home.
6. Read more books/magazines/articles; so I’ll admit, I’ve never been extremely adamant about reading and it is something that I really want to change. I want to be excited about books and news in my industry, and I figure while I have all this time I should start now.

Obviously my list certainly continues to specific things and places I want to see in Scotland, and recently I realized I would love to travel to a few other places before I leave. While in the UK / Europe, I should take advantage of how inexpensive it is to travel to some nearby countries. That being said, I have made plans to travel to Ireland for Thanksgiving with my sister, and to Amsterdam in December with a new friend I made here at the Glasgow School of Art. I’m feeling positive and very ready for my last eight weeks here in Scotland! If you’re studying abroad and caught up in missing home, or even schoolwork, take a moment to look at the big picture and write down some of your goals. What would you wish you had done if you were to go home tomorrow?