Where in the World is Laura Theobald?

I don’t know if I ever mentioned this, but I find it impossible to do things simply.  Rather than just flying from point A to point B, I have to complicate it somehow.  The name of the game in the next two years will be Where in the World is Laura Theobald?  To start off with, I’m currently spending two months in Vienna to do an intensive German course.

Whaaaaaat??  Vienna? German?  What does this have to do with getting a masters degree in history from an English university?  To explain- the majority of historians are multi-lingual.  Being from the United States where being fluent in a foreign language isn’t exactly a priority, I’m behind (even for American PhD programs).  I happen to love German history.  I order German films from Netflix and think of papers to write about them in my spare time.  I want to focus on German history.  This involves learning German.  Why learn German in Austria?  Because they had a program that fit with my time frame, ending the weekend before I start orientation in Nottingham.

Oh, but I couldn’t just fly from Tucson to Vienna.  No, no, that’s too simple.  I inherited the gene from my mother to search for the cheapest ticket, looking at every single possible fare combination.  I found that using miles to get from Tucson to Boston, then picking up a flight to Europe from there could save about $300.  Also on the East Coast is my dear friend Sarah, who I have known since the 5^th grade and has managed to be one of two people I still talk to from high school.

Her family owns a house right by the ocean in Maine, so I scheduled myself a weeklong layover to stay with them.  It ended up being a very good decision.  Up until my flight from Tucson, I was stressed and frazzled.  Squeezing in a few extra hours of work and rushing around town, seeing people and getting all packed up.  In Maine, I got a few days to relax.  All of my stuff was already packed and waited in a corner for me.  I could enjoy nature and catching up on some reading and visiting with people I may not see for a long time as they live on the East Coast.

On Saturday, the day of my flight, I took a bus back into Boston and saw my sorority big sister, Cindy.  She was someone who was always there for me when I really needed her when I was in college, so it was good that I was able to spend a few hours getting lost with her in Boston.  We also happened upon a Panera to eat my last meal in the U.S. in, appropriate since it was one of my favorites in college and a place I used to go to a lot with my sorority sisters (Cindy included).

She dropped me off at the airport, and I held back tears so that way I could look like the calm, cool, collected international traveler I like to pretend to be when I’m flying.  I guess in some ways that distinction is true, especially with all of my travels of the next few years.

Saying Goodbye, Going Away

Saying Goodbye, Going Away

Seems like goodbye is a hard thing to say

Touching a hand, wondering why
It’s time for saying goodbye 

The Muppets always could sum up my feelings better than anyone else. That song from the classic The Muppets Take Manhattan always comes to my mind when I’m leaving somewhere. Driving back from school after graduation, after every goodbye thing I had this summer, it was stuck in my head. I tear up every time I hear it.



It’s funny the different kinds of goodbyes there are. There are the ones with the people you know you aren’t going to see for a while. Then there are the ones you don’t know are going to be for forever.



Those are the types of goodbyes I’ve been having the past few months. It’s odd, because on the one hand, I’m really not sure when I’ll be back in the United States again. I have no return ticket booked, and a lot of factors affect when that return will be. This is not a semester abroad. I’m somewhat establishing a life over there. With the hassle that’s it’s been packing and getting everything together to move, I’m thinking it’ll just be simpler to stay over there forever (plus I think my mother is looking forward to having an excuse to regularly go to Europe whenever she wants).



I have a sneaking suspicion I’ll be back in the United States very soon. My maternal grandfather’s health is not going well, and though I will not go into detail, he will probably not be in this world much longer. In some ways, I feel like this is a reason not to leave. I should be in America for my family; I only have so much time left with some of them. But on the other hand, I’m only young once. As I get older, it’ll be harder to just pick up everything and move to a different country. And it’s not really a debate now, I’ve sunk quite a bit of money into this venture and borrowed even more, there is not turning back now.



The goodbyes I’ve said will have to suffice, I don’t think you can ever say enough of a goodbye, say everything you want to say to someone. It’s a part of caring for someone; you will always want more time with them. As I make more friends across the globe, I will forever be missing someone. It’s one of the problems with spreading my wings more and more.

A Sense of Excitement? Foreboding?

I leave in two days.


This probably means I should a bit more effort into packing, since I currently have nothing packed and I'm supposed to be packing for 2 years away from home.


But I'm not.


For some reason, I've been having a lot more anxiety about this study abroad experience than the last one.  Who knows why I am feeling this way, but I am.  And at this point in the game, I have to go.  Too much money has been sunk in this venture for me to chicken out now.


I guess it goes with the normal anxiety of a recent college graduation.  There seems to be a general theme amongst my peers of  no sense of direction or purpose.  We were let loose with some degrees that we weren't entirely sure what to do with when we picked our majors.  It's all the same story, told by each wannabe intellectual recent college grad trying to find their purpose.


I guess I was especially challenged this summer when after a week of working at my local Girl Scout Council, they offered me a full time position.  A job!  In the non-profit sector!  That paid and had benefits and tied into my major!  I had hit the gold mine!  How many of my peers were desperately searching for the same thing that had just fallen into my lap with ease?  Was I an absolute lunatic for taking out loans to move to a different country for school?  When I could just stay in Tucson and work and be able to pay my own bills and not starve?


I decided I wasn't, and turned down the job.  Some other recent college grad got it instead, making her very happy I'm sure.  And now I have a plane leaving in two days that I better be on, otherwise a lot of people will be disappointed in me.  And I think being on that plane involves doing some packing, which I should probably get to.  Because packing for 2 years is going to involve bringing a lot of stuff.