almost there!

First, I hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas! So thankful for the gift of Christ and all that He has blessed me with year in and year out. Our Christmas was a bit different this year, in a few ways that saddened me but in many that brought me even more joy. God is good, and He continuously proves His goodness.
Secondly, my winter wardrobe is well on its way! My brother said, "I've never seen anyone get so many warm clothes for a San Diego Christmas!" haha, and I would have to agree! But, everyone knows whats going on and are more than happy to make sure that I don't completely freeze in the chilly Welsh weather! I only have a few more days left at the bakery and then my life will be consumed with hanging out with my beautiful friends and family and PACKING! making sure I have everything and not bringing too much... craziness.
Prayers for the next couple of weeks would be great and that I get a LOT of good family time before leave! Thanks all, love you!

love, emily

p.s. 17 days till departure!!

Weeks.... not months...

Yesterday, we had our final meeting with the professor here in Long Beach in charge of the exchange, which was fabulous and a huge upper from the 2 really hard finals I had just taken. We went over a lot of things about the trip and he gave us the letters we needed that confirm that we are in their country to study! He also went over with us where the grocery store is, what parts of Cardiff have what we need, and many places we should visit while we are there! It was a really great meeting and we got a lot of questions answered. I also have to attend a general study abroad meeting on Friday, put on by the study abroad office, so that should be good. Its coming up so fast and I can't wait! These next few weeks are going to FLY by. The fact that I am really leaving the country still hasn't really hit me yet, but its beginning to! Anyways, I still have a few more details to iron out, but, for the most part, all that's left is spending time with family and packing! So crazy. Prayers that things continue to go smoothly and that everything will be ironed out before I leave would be amazing! God is good, and is totally working through this exciting adventure :)

28 {DAYS}
crazy.
love, emily

More and More Real...

SO. We just bought our plane tickets to London!!! We'll be flying into London and then someone from the school is going to be picking us up from there and driving us over to Wales. The flight is going to be just about 11 hours, plus the drive over to Wales is a little over 2 hours... so a good chunk of time traveling plus the jet lag that will incur from the 8 hour time difference is going to make for one tired girl! But its going to be great, and I'm beyond excited! When we officially booked our flight, it finally all felt real. Since this whole thing has been a pretty recent development for me, I haven't really had enough time to let it all sink in quite yet, but buying the ticket definitely made it much more imminent!
Anyhow, shopping has begun for WARM clothes! Seeing as I have all of 3 long-sleeved shirts and not very warm jackets, I definitely have some work to do! I do have rain boots [that was the first thing I did when I found out I was going, lol] but that's about the extent of my Wales-appropriate wardrobe. Also, figuring out what I don't need to bring and what I can just buy over there is going to be a challenge... and where the heck I'm gonna go on my spring break [which I have found out is more of like a month!]. The good thing is that my family will most likely flying out and traveling with me! annnnd I just found out that a good friend is probably going to come as well!!! So exciting, because at that point, I am probably going to be pretty homesick. So, everything is going well so far! A lot has been accomplished - buying the ticket, getting my passport, wellies, etc - but a lot still has to be done! Prayer for that would be AMAZING and that everything continues to go smoothly :)

44 days until departure!!! {I'm allowed to start counting down now, right?}
love, emily

How this whole thing happened...

So, as many of you know, I will be going to Wales in a little less than 2 months!!! I will be studying abroad at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (or in Welsh, Athrofa Prifysgol Cymru, Caerdydd - don't ask me how to pronounce that...). It is a direct exchange through my school, CSU Long Beach, and is specifically for my major, Kinesiology. The great thing about it being specifically for my major is that I will be taking classes for my major instead of just GE's. Usually, students are required to apply for this program the Spring semester before they would be leaving (i.e. a year in advance). For me, however, this was not the case. There was only one student that applied for the program this past Spring. The school wanted some more students to go, so they called for a second set of applications this September. As you may have guessed, I applied the second time around and just found out in October that I will be participating!! So far, everything has been crazy fast and I still have SO much to do before I leave, but I am really thankful for the opportunity and looking forward to many adventures and experiences that the semester will offer! I am beyond excited to learn about their culture and see the differences from ours, as well as the traveling opportunities I will have (a 3 week spring break!!). I will be leaving early January and returning early June! Prayer is ALWAYS a good thing and I need all the prayer I can get! Prayer for safe travels, that I get everything together and take care of things that need to be done before I leave, that I won't get too homesick :/ and that it will just be an overall amazing semester!
Anyways, I'm making this blog so I can post pictures and thoughts/experiences/amazingness while I am over there! I'm hoping to post on a pretty regular basis... enjoy!
love, emily :)