London Week 1

Lexie Palasciano checks in weekly from her study abroad semester in London; catch up with her every Friday on Trazee Travel.

Something about traveling has always had a special place in my heart. When I first traveled abroad at 15, I felt like I had suddenly found something I never knew was missing in my life. All at once, the world seemed so large and me so small. At every corner there was such an intense rush of culture and personality and I knew then that I could travel for the rest of my life and still yearn for more.

© Lexie Palasciano

Traveling for me is like giving color to a black-and-white movie; the outline of what you know is still there but now it’s sharpened with language and life. It’s one thing to see pictures of the Eiffel Tower or learn about the history of the Coliseum, but until I had a picnic in the Champ de Mars park and dined for hours at the Castillo De Verrazano vineyard, I had no real comprehension of the culture that made these iconic places what they really are.

So when I was offered a chance at Rutgers University to study abroad in London, the little wanderlust inside me just couldn’t be tamed. The idea of having an infinite amount of time strolling royal halls and drinking tea was just more than I could ever dream of.

© Lexie Palasciano

I look forward becoming a local in London: to stroll to the Greenwich market every weekend and pick up a new bouquet of sunflowers, to navigate into central London without getting lost on the different transit lines and to be a tour guide for the friends and family that visit. I look forward to the memories I will make with my four best friends who are also studying abroad with me, and the incredible experiences that will impact me for the rest of my life.

While learning to cook dinner every night and managing a currency that will inevitably make me poor is slightly terrifying, I couldn’t be more excited to spend the next semester living abroad.

Cheers!