Pre-Homesickness

Well... maybe "homesickness" isn't the right word. But since I've just hit the halfway mark in the fall semester, I've been thinking a lot about the stuff that will come to an end in about two months- and a more permanent end than I've experienced in the past two years.

For instance, last Tuesday, my suitemate Sara celebrated her 20th birthday and most of our suite and some other friends went out to eat and then just hung out in our common room. I just met Sara and another suitemate, Chanelle, at the end of August, but I've been thinking how sad I'll be to leave our rooms. It'll be just as hard not to see Danielle, who lives with me, too, and hardest of all to not see Kara, my roommate, when I wake up in the morning.

It's weird to think that Arcadia won't just freeze and wait for me. I want to do my semester in both places; there's so much going on! The spring theatre season at my school is great, with some wonderful directors and a good amount of parts. A lot of my friends will be graduating. I'll miss a ton of summer auditions. Books I want are being released. I can't go home whenever I want. I can't participate in the workshop I was offered.

BUT. At the same time, I REALLY want to go to England. I think I've already mentioned what a lifelong dream this is, and I'm as excited as I am nervous about studying abroad. Yes, I'll miss a lot of stuff while I'm there, but I'm not even aware of what I'll be missing if I just decide to be safe and stick with what I know. While I am sad that I'll miss the spring plays (and seeing my friends in them), England is the land of THEATRE- there will be plays there. There will still be summer auditions when I go home. There's Skype. I have an e-reader for a reason. My entire family's coming to visit me in May/June. And there are other workshops. Plus, I made sure that I got two shows this semester just in case I didn't get to be in a production in England.

So while I'm quite nervous about what my five months in England will be like, I get excited every time I look at the school website or talk to someone about the program, and I think that's a sign that I should go, no matter what great things will be going on at home without me!