I was 12 when I took the airplane alone for the first time. I grinned at my parents as I walked away from them, cleared security and promptly ran to the bathroom. There I spent the next half hour sobbing, until a kind middle-aged lady told me that I was bringing everyone in the joint down, and that the whole restroom experience would be much improved if I could manage to shut up.
Today I embark on a trip where no one is waiting for me upon arrival: my graduation trip to Venice, Italy. Five of my closest friends and I will attempt to survive for a week in a foreign country without poisoning ourselves and/or walking into a canal and inadvertently drowning. Well, four actually, one of them is out with appendicitis, may she rest in peace (I kid, stop freaking out on me. We Jumbos have a great and often inappropriate sense of humor). Let it be known that I speak about 2 words of Italian: grazie and gelato. I'm gonna do great right?
I see this as a trial run for an existence separated from that of my parents, a life where my decisions, rather than being met with a smirk and a “yeah right, in your dreams” from my mother, actually have consequences. If I come home looking like a scurvy-plagued badger, well frankly there's nothing I can do but wish my lovely roommate all the luck in the world. It seems more likely, however, that I'll come home mostly whole, exhausted, exhilarated, happy and proud that I took the leap.
A week later – I'm home, mostly whole, exhausted, exhilarated and happy (it's like I'm a medium isn't it). Despite making a mess of the apartment, stumbling over interaction in Italian and getting lost several times in a twisted maze of Venetian streets, I made it. And suddenly, college doesn't seem so terrifying anymore. My dorm may not be as organized as Monica Geller would like it to be, I may stumble in social situations and revert to my original state of awkward penguin, and I have no doubt that most of the time, I'll be lost in a maze of opportunities, but a week long test-run has made me more excited than afraid. Because I have a feeling that after four amazing years at Tufts, I'll be proud that I took the leap.