One feeling I dont want to bottle up was a 24-hour period which began last Thursday morning. Prior to Thursday, the three other SDSU students set to study at MMU received their housing accommodations through email. I however heard nothing. Before getting ready for a full day at my internship I checked my email only to read that my bad premonitions were true. MMU informed me that no other on-campus accommodations were available for short-term lease. They proceeded to give me two options. One: I could apply at this one private hall, not through the university. Two: I could fly over that big blue ocean not having any place to stay and during orientation week meet with renters and hopefully find someplace to provide a roof over my head. My stomach had sunk and I just couldn't believe that after 10 months of planning and dreaming, my study abroad experience could potentially end 3 and some weeks before I was set to leave and less than one week before SDSU was going to begin classes.
Thankfully, I was given the next few hours off at my internship to search my options. It all needed to get figured out right away because I just needed to be a full time student somewhere. This gave me about 5 days to either find a place to live in England or enroll for classes back at SDSU. I applied at a private accommodation, Hartley Hall, located in a nearby suburb. It is a newly renovated building and the only tenants are MMU or University of Manchester undergraduate or graduate students. It also had short term leases.
The rest of the day was spent confused, stunned and bummed by the whole scenario. Where was I suppose to focus my thoughts? Did all of this mean I really should just give up on the whole idea. This was definitely not the first road block. The entire process has been full of challenges and surprises. Luckily I had my parents, Maggie, Jessy, and Kolby to be angry and sad for with me. Cole was also a help in saying, regardless, over there and find a place to live. So before I went to bed that night I had it decided in my head that no matter what happened in the next few weeks, I was flying over to the UK, home or no home.
24 hours later I read my email and was accepted into Hartley Hall. Amen! Amen! I am gladly going to live there. And honestly, I think it is a blessing in disguise. So what if I am located in an area different than the other SDSU students and a 15 minute bus ride from campus. I have a roof and a mattress. And after those 24 hours I realized all the other little things I was fretting over were minute problems in comparison to not having those two things.
All of the roadblocks I've hit over the past few months are making my actual arrival in England that much sweeter. I plan to appreciate every moment while there. Good things don't come easy and since this definitely hasn't come easy, I expect it will be quite good.
