Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time there was a girl named Aylea.  Unfortunately she had several strikes against her.  She wasn't a princess, you see, or even a peasant girl with a heart of gold.  She wasn't dazzlingly beautiful or revoltingly ugly.  She couldn't sing so sweetly the whole forest would stop to listen.  She was more or less ordinary.  She didn't even have the advantage of being in a Medieval times atmosphere that never really existed but made fantastic stories.

But even so, the fair maiden managed to be happy.  She worked, played, and lived with all the usual ups and downs, good times and bad.  Her life was exciting but normal.  However, in the year 2011 her story changed.

Ever since she was a smile child, she dreamed of visiting the magical land of England.  She wanted so badly to visit Buckingham Palace, Baker Street, Kensington Gardens... She knew more about English history that she did about American history and would check out travel books from the library to read about the castles and museums there.  It was a distant dream, one she kept in the back of her heart and assumed it would never happen.  It was too much to hope for.

The child grew into a lovely young woman and decided to study at Brigham Young University.  It was in Provo, Utah, but it was a good school and she learned much and grew into a better person there.  Over a period of time, she looked into many options for traveling somewhere else.  She lived at home, you see, and she wanted to go out and explore the world.

Strange things started happening.  The study abroad fair happened to be in the area of campus she crossed one day so she stopped to pick up many fliers about the different programs.  She happened to be in a class where study abroad studies were announced frequently.  And the director of one of the study abroad programs happened to come to her class and give her the final push she needed to apply.

A friend of hers came over and helped her write an application paper.  She found references to use.  She paid the application fee.  A few days later, she received an email asking when she could come in for an interview.  She had made it to the first step!  She went in for the interview and apparently impressed the program directors because the next day she received the following email: "Hi, Aylea.  We just met to make admissions decisions for the Winter 2012 program at the London Centre, and I thought I'd pass along the good news that you've been admitted."


She rushed into the kitchen to have her family read the email.  She was in the program!  But there was a problem.  Now she had to decide if she was going to go.  It was the most agonizing decision of her life.  Going would be a huge dream come true.  She'd actually get to see in person the places she had dreamed, read, and studied about.  It would be the experience of a lifetime.  She wanted to go more than anything else in her entire life.  But was it worth it?  She would have to sacrifice a lot to get there, too many things to list in a blog post in fact.  She would have to take out a loan and give up many things to be able to make it happen.  She emailed the professors and mentioned that she might not be able to go.  They offered to try to get her a scholarship.  Not for the whole thing, but an amount that would help.

So she prayed, and she fasted, and she thought hard about the pros and cons.  She agonized over every aspect of the decision.  She worried and wondered how it could be possible.  And then finally, the decision was made.  She was going to make her dreams come true.  She was going to London!

If you're wondering why this post is all in third person, it's because I can't quite believe it.  Me?  Going to London?  For four months?  Really?  I'm insane.  I have trouble going places by myself when I can call my parents at any time for directions.  What am I going to do when I can only talk to them at certain times of the day and only about once a week, if that?

I don't know.  It's going to be quite the adventure.  And I'm inviting all of you to share it with me.  I'm going to update this blog as often as possible with updates, both in preparing to leave and while I'm there.  Read it, follow it, comment on the posts.  I'm going to be a very long ways away from home and I'd greatly appreciate your support from home.  So, if you're interested in hearing about my crazy adventures, welcome to the blog!