It's day one in London, and my homesickness has already eased. Right when I got off my flight I saw a familiar face and realized that another girl from my program had taken the same flight as me. By coincidence, a second girl from my program had landed near the same time as us, and so we all decided to split a cab to our flat. I was beyond relieved that I never got lost nor had to lug my huge suitcase around town in attempt to find my flat by myself. Right when I walked into our flat I knew that this journey was worth it. Our kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms were more than what I expected. We were so lucky to have been supplied with so many amenities, like toilet paper, cooking utensils, appliances, hangers and bedding. I was in awe with how extremely clean and chic everything was. Even when I walked into my bedroom, I saw an FIE tote bag filled with mini traveling brochures and books to guide me throughout my stay.
   Immediately after we arrived, we decided to take a quick stroll throughout town to familiarize ourselves with the area, buy some last-minute toiletries and grab a small brunch. This affluent area is so quaint and beautiful. Like our flat, the rest of the neighborhood was extremely clean and safe. There were so many pretty and petite white buildings, vintage-styled cabs and various bushes of flowers and greenery. Our very first meal in London was at Cote Bistro, where we each ordered salad. After that we went back to the flat to unpack our luggage and freshen up. My luck only got better as I found out that both of the girls on my program actually knew people who were currently finishing up their study abroad with FIE. We all ended up having dinner at Da Mario, which happens to be one of Princess Diana's favorite restaurants. The students we met up with gave us so much great advice on the best and cheapest places to eat and visit. As for the food at De Mario, I treated myself to shrimp, wine and canolli. I definitely want to revisit this place again before I leave to try something new. My first day in London was definitely fulfilling, and now I can't wait to sleep in my comfortable bed and slowly wash away my jet lag.

In T-minus seven hours I will finally be flying off to London for the very first time! This week has been so crazy with finals, packing and moving. Today was actually a crazy day where I had to move everything out of my apartment by 9am, but will be flying out of the country at 10pm. I'm not even jet lagged yet, but I'm already so tired and sleepy! I feel such a big mix of emotions. The homesickness is already starting to hit me, and I feel scared and sad that I'm leaving my safe home in Philly. Throughout the week I've been having second guesses, like "Maybe I should've just played it safe and just have another regular summer term at Drexel." I think the reason why I'm so nervous is because growing up, traveling abroad was never a big thing in my family. We never had the time and money to afford visiting foreign countries, so we would usually stick to home state road trips. The furthest places we've gone were Canada, Mexico and our home country of Vietnam. I've never traveled anywhere without my family before, so having this independence scares me. However, I keep reminding myself that I'll be taking on this journey with a bunch of other girls in my major, so if we get lost, we'll get lost together.
The study abroad opportunity was also one of the main reasons why I applied to Drexel in the first place. I read past Design and Merchandising blog posts, and saw how so many of them had the chance to go to London. I've been waiting to be a part of this for so long, and London is actually my favorite fashion capital of them all. This entire term I've been nothing but excited, and have been longing for my stressful classes to be over so that I could finally treat myself to a more relaxing term abroad. It wasn't until this week that I got cold feet, and I know I'll be extremely sad leaving everything and everyone behind for a long three months. However, one of my main life goals is to continue to go out of my comfort zone and try new things. This is a part of growing up, and I can't wait to come back home and look back on this journey to see how independent and strong I've become.