Jay walking in the UK

When I first started juggling the idea to drop everything and take off to Europe, there were a few factors that weighted my decision. One: My parents weren't so keen on the idea. Two: I was broke. Three: Even though I despised the thought of taking one more Japanese class, I knew a part of me would miss going back to school in the fall.

It was easy to sit back and imagine myself overseas, choking down Guinness in the pouring rain as my Prince Charming whispered words I couldn't understand in an accent I loved. But when the time came to take action, I froze. I was paralyzed with the thought of leaving this comfortable life. What was I running from? I had a job I loved, people who cared about me, and most importantly, a dad who knew how to cook. But a part of me wasn't ready to settle for this ordinary lifestyle. I just wasn't ready to settle.

There were great things waiting for me and I had to stop being such a pansy and get out there. Albert Einstein once said, "I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be." This trip was going to change me in so many inconceivable ways that all I had to do was sit back and let it happen.

And that is exactly how my first day in Glasgow, Scotland went. I found myself alone in the centre of the city in an underground subway station, completely stripped of any sense of direction. It was liberting, to say the least, thrusting myself into the middle of a foreign country, unprepared, and overwhelmed.

But the two things that really blew my mullet back were the drivers and the thick accent. Stepping off the airport shuttle was kind of like throwing myself head first off a second story balcony into a pool of grunts, slurs, and newfies. Not to mention a pool completely inhabited by reckless drivers.

I've been to Japan before where they as well drive on the left side of the road, but something about the Scotish scare me to death. No crosswalks, speed limits that say "twenty is plenty", and distracted drivers were going to make for an interesting trip. I nearly replastered some of the old buildings with my own body after having spent a solid hour dodging traffic. It was after the fourth consecutive angry honk that I remembered, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do." This doesn't mean I was going to strap on a kilt and forget how to properly annunciate my words, it just meant that if everyone around me was as tough as leather, then I would have to be too. I survived day one. Just like I would the next 3, 6, 12 months.

I would miss home like crazy, but when I thought of those waiting for me, I would "love them when I loved them, miss them when I missed them, and send them light and happiness when I thought of them, and then drop it."-Elizabeth Gilbert