In twenty two days I will be putting my life in Britain on hiatus whilst I swan off for a year abroad in America. How do I feel? ‘Oh mate, you must be so excited!’ And I really am. I’m bloody ecstatic! I’ve been planning this since sitting in I.T lessons when I was sixteen. Scrolling through prospectus after prospectus scanning for degrees with a year away.
And it’s like finally here. It actually happened. We’ve had our ups and downs, me and my year abroad. We were best friends for a long time and then I figured for a year or two that I didn’t need her. But right at the last second we patched things up, so off I’m jetting to Washington D.C. The idea of travelling greatly fascinates me but I’ve never particularly had the chance to do it by myself yet. In childhood, I was fortunate to have amazing holidays fuelled by my parents own appetite for adventure. Seeing new cities, cultures, cliffs, causing chaos wherever we heaved our people carrier next. It was a blast and although I may be ruining my mother’s life (direct quote), she should know it’s because of her determination to explore as much of this world as we can that I’m simply carrying on her work. (I also have a race with my dad to be the first Williams on all seven continents!)
So yeah, me and excitement, we’re good. But then he quickly introduced me to his best friend terror and I haven’t been able to get rid of that guy since. I mean, I’d like to think it’s a healthy kind of terror. Like, oh man, I’m not gonna be able to make friends because I’m awkward, or, oh jesus, they speak English? Because I understand NOTHING that is going on here. But all the same, it’s there. I’m literally completely abandoning everything I know. I’m leaving behind the great family and the most perfect friends and I guess the gravity of the distance is only really beginning to register.
Gone are the days of just popping on a train home to Liverpool for the weekend when I feel like seeing my mum. Gone are the hysterically drunken nights and horrendously hungover next days with my triangle in Leicester. But, I mean, here is the year of reinvention (or at the very least, discovery), courage in refusing to let my inability to meet new people stop me from saying yes to every opportunity. This is the year of complete liberation and exploration from the me I’ve always known. We’re okay, but we can improve, and we can have a good time.
So we’re going. And I can’t fucking wait.
Ever So Shy – General Fiasco
Wilhelm Shenanigans 