A Wish (or two) Right Now

So let's pretend that the airplane flying from Newark to Birmingham is a shooting star streaking across the night sky. Here are a few things that I wish for on my journey to England.

1. To have a greater appreciation for literature.

You would think someone who deeply desires to be a writer would be greatly interested in literature. You would think that their bookshelves would be filled with great pieces of work, by the greatest authors of all time. From Shakespeare, to Jane Austen, to Nabokov. You would think that they pore through books in a week's worth of time. You would think that Barnes and Noble would recognize their face and that their library card would be well worn in. You would think…

Truth be told, I'm terrible when it comes to literature. I'm terrible when it comes to reading. It takes me months to get through a book and if I find it boring I often put it down, start another book, only to put the second down and go back to the first. I am not a huge fan of really any author. The last book I couldn't put down was the seventh book of the Harry Potter series (yes, I will admit, I enjoyed those books). I don't know why. I don't know whether it's a lack of patience or if it's just the fact that certain stories and books can really get into my head and pester my mind and morals for a while. It's the same reason why I'm not a huge movie fan. Unless it's comedy, anything with a decent plot can stay on my mind for awhile and changes my mood. I'm not a fan of that. I'm a fan of consistency. Anyways…

I hope that England will bring a change to that. I hope that I will dive into Romeo and Juliet with a passion and hold onto every word. I hope that visiting these places where great writers once lived will open my eyes. I hope that I will perhaps see a desk where pen once met paper and the words that resulted influenced the world and it will impact me in a way that I could never imagine. As much as I love words, sometimes sight is the only communication you need.

2. Make one of the royal guards laugh.

3. Find the cutest locally owned coffee shop…or tea shop…

I love Starbucks. I swear I do. I have a Starbucks credit card in which 1% of all purchases goes towards the Starbuck's gift card side. I surprise my boyfriend with mocha crème frappucinos. In the summer I sip iced coffees and caramel frappucinos, and in the winter their caramel macchiatos warm me right up. I go there with friends and co-workers and it's the perfect atmosphere. And I always, always walk out of there with a smile on my face.

I do not want to touch Starbucks while I'm over here.

No offense to Starbucks, but there's something different about a coffee shop that's locally owned rather than an international wide chain. Something more personal about it. Something that you can really appreciate. I often dream of finding a coffee shop like Central Perk in Friends, where I can just go chill out with my friends and it becomes a second home to me. I love that idea. Ball State was close to having its own Central Perk, it was called the Mt.Cup (pronounce empty cup…clever isn't it?). Unfortunately for Mt.Cup, business did not do so well and apparently issues with the owner was the final straw for the coffee shop. When I return to Ball State this year it will be gone. And I will continue to go to Starbucks because it is the only (and most convenient) coffee shop around. And in my hometown? There was a coffee shop a few years back. It closed its doors as well. And Starbucks continues to remain the King of all purchased coffee beverages in the tri-state area.

So I figured while I have the chance to get away, this will be the perfect time to find that cute locally owned coffee shop. Thing about England though, is they seem to prefer tea. So perhaps I will find a cute locally owned café shop that has the best tea in town! I would prefer to find this in Worchester, but if I can find one at all while I'm abroad, that would be great as well.

4. Befriend the British.

If there's anything I would really like to take away from this trip, aside from learning and gaining irreplaceable memories, is a new friend. Girl or guy, doesn't matter. Just as long as they have a cool personality, can teach me a lot about the culture over here, and has an awesome accent. Someone who I can stay in touch with for the rest of my life, and hopefully someone who I can visit again!

With that said, that reminds me of another wish I have…

5. Have a British accent, complete with the awesome lingo, that will fool people into thinking that I'm really from the UK.

6. Stay away from anything American.

No Starbucks, no McDonalds, nothing that screams anything from my homeland. That includes (I can't believe I'm going to say this) drinking coffee in the morning. I guess I'll have to adapt to tea!

7. Be inspired.

The reason I decided to go on this trip started with a whim. A burst of spontaneity that occurred on a snowy day back in January. It was after I discovered that this upcoming school year will be my last at Ball State…I will have accomplished my goal of graduating in three years, something I wasn't so sure was going to happen. But after I learned that this indeed would be my last year, I realized I was missing out on something I so desperately planned on doing when I was in high school. I always told myself that I would go to college and study abroad in England. And after hearing of my other friends going on their own adventures and having their own cultural experiences to talk about I realized that this summer would be my last chance to seize this opportunity. I threw my internship plans aside and decided I would get that taken care of next summer, after I was done with all of my classes. So I ran, literally, down to the Rinker Center in the Student Center and asked the lady at the front desk if there were any opportunities for this summer to study abroad in England. We set up an appointment, and the next week I was meeting with Jim Coffin, the director of international programs and he presented this new program at the University of Worcester.

A phone call to my mom and $500 deposit later, and now here I sit, in a lounge with two other Ball State students in our flat, here in Worcester, UK.

This is a dream coming true for me…these wishes/goals that I've listed only scratch the service I've what I'd like to experience and take away from this trip. For so long I've dreamed of coming to this island, experiencing this culture, knowing that I was in England and it blows my mind that I'm actually here. In fact, I'm not sure it's fully hit me yet (I'm running on the 2 hours sleep I got on the flight on the way here). But what I do know is that when I leave, I want this trip to have changed me. I want my eyes to be opened to all that surrounds me. I want to have a different take on not only this country, but the country I know and love back home. I want to be inspired to write and research and read. I want this trip to just simply inspire me. Perhaps an experience I can look back on and being inspired by for the rest of my life.

So let's realize that airplanes in the night sky aren't shooting stars. And these seven wishes I have aren't wishes, but simply goals I'd like to accomplish. And the only person that's going to make them come true, is me.

Wish me luck :)