One.

In my first post I briefly mentioned that I had missed out on a few different oppurtunities to be in London for the long haul in the past. I figured I would dedicate one post going into a bit more detail about each opportunity and why it didn't end up working out.

My first opportunity to spend an extensive amount of time in England came in early 2012. I had transferred to a large university in Orlando, Florida (I was living in Florida at the time, and had been living there for 8 years at that point) and was eager to study abroad. I knew even then I wanted London. However, unfortunately my school offered no semester long exchange to London, which was disappointing. Still even today it seems insane to me that a school of 60,000 students (yes, sixty thousand. We were one of the largest school's in the country) didn't have an exchange program to such a major city like London. 

They did however have an exchange to Surrey, a region of England about 40 minutes outside of London by train. They offered an exchange studying Hospitality at the University of Surrey in Guildford, Surrey. One of the things I was studying at the time was hospitality, so it seemed to work for me. I was not 100% sure about applying for it because I wanted London. After  I saw a friend of a friend do the same program, and saw what a good time she had (and heard that she got the entire month of April off of school to travel) I decided to do it and apply. As much as I had wanted London, that just wasn't going to happen and this was the next best thing. 

I eventually got accepted to the program, which was exciting. Then, however, I really started thinking about the program. I was already going abroad in the summer of 2012 for a month. If I went ahead with the exchange, I would be doing it in the spring semester of 2013, which would have been my final semester. Doing the summer abroad would have given me all of the credits I needed for Hospitality, so going on the exchange for hospitality meant I would be getting no academic credit for it. I would essentially be spending $10k for no reason, because I would not be getting any credit for the exchange. That semester was supposed to be my last, so participating in the exchange during that time would have pushed my graduation back until winter of 2013, so I could complete the remaining credits I needed. 

Considering everything, it's no wonder I didn't go through with it. Looking back on it, it would have been a bad idea if I had. While it was hard to see the date of my would be departure pass without me on a plane to England, overall it was the best decision. I knew doing an exchange to Surrey, at least for me, would have been settling as London was what I really wanted.

I did still go on the summer month abroad and got to visit London again. And while the visit was far too short, only for 6 days and it was painful to say goodbye to the city I loved so much, that trip set the foundation for where I am right now. That trip made me realize that travel was my passion and it was the field I wanted to make a career in. It was when I returned that  I knew I didn't want to graduate from the current university I was in with the major I had decided on. I wanted to graduate with a degree in something I was proud to have, and that I would use, and the degree I was getting at the time didn't satisfy that.

So in early 2013, it was not in England where I found myself. Instead, it was Providence, Rhode Island at a completely different school, and a completely different life. My life in Florida versus my life back in New England ended up being completely different from one another. However now I was studying something I was proud to be studying: travel and tourism. It was here that I continued on my mission to get to London for the long term, once again.