The Panic.

Class started on February 4th.

On February 5th, The Panic started to set in.

Okay. I’ve been in France for, what, almost three weeks now? And I still haven’t been anywhere? Who am I? What am I doing? Paris is ideally located to traverse the entire European Union if I so desired and yet I’ve been sitting in the same place!! This is only a three month trip and I want to see EVERYWHERE. I am wasting so much time! Can I go somewhere tonight? No, school. Okay, the minute class is over on Thursday, I need to be on a plane train or bus taking me somewhere. No exceptions. 

I voiced some/ most/ more than that aloud to Caroline, and we were on the same page. We decided London would be a great place to start out. Easy Chunnel ride, they speak English, nice break in to the traveling scene. Well it turns out that when you try to buy chunnel tickets the week of, it’s very very expensive. So we were grounded for the weekend. But fear not, the Panic makes one productive and pushy towards friends who are considering traveling with you. So Caroline and I convinced the other half of our little group, Zara and Melissa, to go with us to Amsterdam the next weekend. We bought bus tickets, booked a hostel, went, saw, conquered.

The Panic was satiated, but only for a little while. Last week, Caroline and I booked tickets to Budapest for this upcoming weekend, with our friend Kelly. We are so pumped! We just need to book a hostel and plan what to do and see there… soon. Lindsey, Caroline, and I are working out the details of our UK Bonanza, where we will successfully see London, Dublin, and Edinburg in three days time. Phew. Zara, Caroline, Melissa and I are also planning another trip to Spain to see Madrid and Barcelona, but also our Spring Break in Italy/ Greece.

In short, The Panic is sometimes worried about prices and lodging and tickets and planning, but in the end I know I will be happy with all the places I will be able to visit, and I’ll do my best to see all that I can. Regrets are not for people who wake up with that sense of urgency to go see new places and explore other cities, and that wanderlust inside of me that sometimes feels like the Panic is actually just a gnawing to cover new territory and absorb as much as I can while I’m here. Scratch that itch, says the Panic. So I do, so I will.