Being Here in Newport

By: Emily Ferro
Posted In: Blogs

For Emily’s blog about her travels, visit: http://trvluk10.wordpress.com

Ah, America. I am back. And mind you, it was no easy task. Following my lovely Thanksgiving dinner, things got crazier as the semester drew to an end and the holidays were fast approaching. Sixty pages of writing papers and two presentations looming in the future did not stop me from going to Ireland for the weekend. Of course, taking the weekend off from schoolwork left me high and dry when I came home, and the inevitable panic that always accompanies the end of the semester had set in.

I survived it all, and before I knew it, it was the day of my flight. And what does my departure day bring? Snow. After an entire semester of rain, the day I was supposed to leave was cursed with more snow than England was prepared for. By 10 a.m., the roads were covered in 2 inches of snow and there was not a plow in sight. The drive that should have taken 40 minutes took us 3 hours, and the whole experience made me feel like I was suddenly playing in a scene from “The Day After Tomorrow.” The motorway was full of cars that were stuck, crashed, swerving, abandoned and otherwise incapable of moving for the people who were able to drive. There were snowball fights in the middle of the roads and even an 18-wheeler that had spun out to block three of the four lanes. It was a nightmare.

Thanks to the fantastic cab driver, we made it to the airport on time, only to be herded into a corner with other passengers for nearly six hours before our flight was called and our bags were checked. Needless to say I was thrilled we were taking off, but the excitement did not last long. After two hours of waiting at security, our flight was canceled and we were left on our own to find a place to stay.

The entire escapade cost me five days, and after spending four nights in a hotel and detouring to Iceland, I made it home. Surprisingly enough, it was much harder to adjust to coming back home than it was to adjust to going to a strange country. It took over a week for the jet-lag to wear off and once or twice I even questioned whether or not I was driving on the correct side of the road.

After the shortest winter break I have ever experienced, I am now back at Salve, and there are still more adjustments to make. Rather than walking through the streets of Oxford to class, I have to drive to campus, and rather than enjoying a class with only two other students and the professor, I am in classes with 18 other students and the classes and my seat is different in every class period.

So I spent a semester abroad, and by the end, I traveled to 26 cities in seven different countries. As everyone who has ever been abroad has told me, it was the best four months of my life. SO FAR. I think it is very important for people to realize that every moment of your life should have the potential to be better than the last, and if I get stuck in the past then how can I be tearing up the present? So my new mission is that no matter how much I miss being in Oxford, I can’t forget how much I love being home. It should be easy, considering Newport is one of my favourite places to be.