I hope you will have the experience of studying abroad much sooner in your life than I did. There is nothing quite like seeing and being in a new place full of people and things different from what one usually sees from day to day, to freshen one’s perspective on life.
How do I begin to describe it? Before this childhood dream of mine manifested as a reality, I had to overcome many false beliefs that held me back. In years past, I would not have thought I deserved to spend that much money on myself. Maybe it was the fact of knowing that it was “for my education” that made it a little easier to swallow. I saw the posters up around school… I wanted it… I brushed my desire aside, but somehow or another, I had come to a point in my adult life when these desires could no longer be brushed aside. I did some math, and realized I could just make it. It was worth it, right? Three more credits would help so much in the coming year and a half…
There were many times up until we left for this trip that I panicked about how much money I was spending. But, there was also an inexorable sense of joy building up inside of me. Sometimes, I would become literally giddy, giggling at the thought of soon going to London! I would listen to my favorite British bands, and watch my favorite British shows with a big, goofy smile on my face, knowing I would soon be experiencing this culture first hand.
Pacione is a native Hudson Valley fine artist and poet who has been writing poetry for nearly two decades, reading her impassioned work throughout New York since 1995, and oil painting since 2010. Her poetry and paintings center around the complexities of the human subconscious and how dreams manifest in life on the surface. She is currently pursuing a MFA in Painting at SUNY New Paltz.
Afterthoughts on London Experience (Part I)…
I hope you will have the experience of studying abroad much sooner in your life than I did. There is nothing quite like seeing and being in a new place full of people and things different from what one usually sees from day to day, to freshen one’s perspective on life.
How do I begin to describe it? Before this childhood dream of mine manifested as a reality, I had to overcome many false beliefs that held me back. In years past, I would not have thought I deserved to spend that much money on myself. Maybe it was the fact of knowing that it was “for my education” that made it a little easier to swallow. I saw the posters up around school… I wanted it… I brushed my desire aside, but somehow or another, I had come to a point in my adult life when these desires could no longer be brushed aside. I did some math, and realized I could just make it. It was worth it, right? Three more credits would help so much in the coming year and a half…
There were many times up until we left for this trip that I panicked about how much money I was spending. But, there was also an inexorable sense of joy building up inside of me. Sometimes, I would become literally giddy, giggling at the thought of soon going to London! I would listen to my favorite British bands, and watch my favorite British shows with a big, goofy smile on my face, knowing I would soon be experiencing this culture first hand.
Andrea Pacione
Pacione is a native Hudson Valley fine artist and poet who has been writing poetry for nearly two decades, reading her impassioned work throughout New York since 1995, and oil painting since 2010. Her poetry and paintings center around the complexities of the human subconscious and how dreams manifest in life on the surface. She is currently pursuing a MFA in Painting at SUNY New Paltz.
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