T — 3 months

Whewwww — sophomore year of undergrad is over, summer days are wonderfully long, and the living is pretty easy… which only means one thing to me: take off is in less than 3 months away! Soon I’ll be headed off to Denmark, some 4000 odd miles (or should I say 6600-ish kilometers) away from home for a new adventure. And with that on the horizon, I’m using this summer to make some money, mentally and logistically prepare, and plan Euro trips!

For those of you who may not know, I’m leaving Chapel Hill in August to spend my junior year abroad in Europe and Asia with a program called GLOBE through the Kenan-Flagler Business School. The program is a 3 semester program, and involves 54 students — 18 from UNC, 18 from the Copenhagen Business School, and 18 from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. All the students come together the first semester (my junior fall semester) to go to school together at CBS, then second semester at CUHK, take a summer apart, and then reconvene for our third and final semester (my senior fall semester) at UNC. The program involves classes, study trips, company visits, and more — but more about those things later when they happen.

I’m insanely excited to do all this traveling, and it’s partly because I’ve lived in North Carolina my whole life. Plus, I go to university about 10 minutes down the road from the house I grew up in, so as much as this opportunity is about expanding my horizons and experiencing different cultures, it’s also my first real experience being independent! I’m excited about this, and have already gotten started by planning my solo trip to NYC to get my Danish student residency permit. I’ve also started planning my time in Iceland where I’ll be spending a few days in August on my way to Copenhagen. This trip to Reykjavik, Iceland was booked on a whim (in GLOBE-like fashion, of course) with a small group of my fellow GLOBErs, so finding budget-friendly hostels and things to do are high up on my priority list — any suggestions or tips are totally welcome!

While I’m on the topic of Euro trips, other places that I definitely want to hit up during my semester in Europe are:

Greece — Santorini

Spain — Madrid, Barcelona, and/or Buñol (for La Tomatina)

Germany — I mean…Oktoberfest

France — Paris

I’m keeping my list short and sweet for now, but will hopefully add more destinations as I do more research (note to self: read US News article, 12 Best Affordable Destinations in Europe)

Even though it’s still the beginning of summer, I know it will fly by so quickly and I’ll be on my way across the Atlantic before I know it. I’ll do my best to keep this blog updated with GLOBE preparations and new plans as things progress.