This Came Before

So a full year abroad to get my master's degree seemed to warrant its own blog. That could just be my way of thinking about things but I hope to have a lot of things to make this year count.

Coming up with a name was hard and at first I wanted to focus on the whole "I'm in London, I want to make it count" thing, but in no way does that make a good url so I simplified. Imperial to describe place and year to describe time.

I've called this post "This Came Before" with the idea that when I return home from London I'll do a "This Came After" post to summarize what my year was like, how it changed me, where my experiences have gotten me, and to see what I thought the experience would do for me starting out.

I do also want to mention that I have every intention of doing a concurrent vlog on my youtube.com/kittenpaws33 channel. Vlogs having to do with London or this year or travel in general will get the "imperialyear" hashtag, while any random music/makeup/fashion videos won't. I haven't decided where I'll put in the inevitable sciencey things. I'll figure it out eventually.


This Came Before

Setting out for London for me is an incredibly scary/exciting/nerve-wracking/sad prospect. I'm leaving behind someone I really care about, more than I ever have someone before, so that in itself is a scary and sad prospect. I've grown up a lot in the last 5 years and this relationship means far more to me than its predecessors but I do have a tendency to lose and/or decrease contact with friends and the like when I move away from them.

Also going in the scary/nerve-wracking column is that I have never been to the UK, let alone London, before nor have I lived in a city proper. I am in general an anxious person, particularly in large crowds, so a large city is rather intimidating. I'll need to learn the tube, get my student Oyster Card, set up a bank account, get a phone plan... My 9 weeks in Australia have helped prepare me for this, but I'm still freaking out a bit. Not gonna lie.

In the exciting column is the program I'm going to be studying. It will set me up with the skills and connections (I hope) that will help me be a "female Bill Nye for the Internet" or at least someone who does some of those things. I want to help the science world befriend the world of the everyday and I want to do it in a way that is creatively fulfilling for me.

Hopes for this year: meet lots of people, make lots of friends, develop lasting connections, have a job waiting at the end of this (with benefits and the ability to pay off my debt/pay my bills would be nice,) and most importantly make this year count. If I'm going to be away from someone so important for a year than you'd better bet I'm going to make it worth that time away. I want to come back from this experience more solidly empowered by who I am and closer to being who I want to be.

Oh and if I can get a part-time job over there so that I don't go completely broke and can actually pay off my debt when I get back, that'd be great.