36 Hour Countdown

Emily Park
May 23, 2013

I actually started packing for Vienna last week, even though I hate packing with a passion, which is also how I’m finding time to write this… I really hate packing. I just got home from a week in Las Vegas to see one of my cousins graduate from college. Our plane landed in Austin-Bergstrom at 11:20pm last night (Tues, May 21) and my first flight for Vienna leaves at 11:30am tomorrow (Thurs, May 23). Pretty much when my plane landed, a mental timer started, counting down my last 36 hours in Texas before I leave for Austria. Already I have discovered that my new walking shoes weren’t anywhere near as comfortable as they were in the store, American Airlines doesn’t like to do online check in, and we don’t have enough laundry detergent to wash everything from Vegas. But here’s hoping that all the insanity will happen here and the flights will go smoothly.

My progress as of 8pm on Wednesday. I still have a long way to go. My new shoes to replace the neon-blue runners that I normally wear. Bringing your own food is just a part of life while traveling with Celiac's Disease. The plus side is that at the end, there's a little extra room in your suitcase. My mom and I each have one of these little guys that I bought at the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum in the 4th grade. Whenever one of us travels, we bring ours. My two packing lists for Vienna. They're a bit more filled in than when this photo was made. I thought I'd brush up on my German since it's been almost 4 years since the last time I took a class.

 

It doesn’t feel real that I’m leaving for Austria tomorrow. I honest-to-goodness believed I was going to be spending my summer in Rochester, NY this year. Then I started getting very, very jealous of all my friends who were abroad for the semester and all their fabulous adventures. So I looked up all the available summer programs through IES and found Vienna. I fell in love with the psychology class offerings and decided to apply, because why not? I put Vienna on the back burner as I applied to more programs in Rochester, but it was always there nagging me. I (luckily) got rejected from the program I was looking at in Rochester, so I started getting everything ready to go to Vienna. There was another road block that happened to come up this past semester. I got diagnosed with Celiac’s disease. This means I have to maintain a 100% gluten free diet, including being aware of cross-contamination. I am pretty sensitive to consuming gluten (found in wheat, rye, barley) so I was very nervous about how in the world I was going to explain in broken German how to keep me from being sick. Luckily, I was able to get accommodations and find cards online that explain exactly what “Ich liede an Zöliakie” means for waiters and restaurant staff. While this won’t be all I write about, it is a huge part of how I experience life, especially since my diagnosis is so new. So here I go with all my (rice) pastas and clothes packed away… well once I get them out of the dryer and packed in folded.

Emily Park

<p><span style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29); font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; background-color: rgb(237, 237, 237);">Emily is a rising senior studying psychology with a focus in development at the University of Rochester. Her dream job is to be a family therapist somewhere sunny. When she&#39;s not studying psychology, she enjoys dancing with the Ballet Performance Group, swimming on the Master&#39;s team, running along the Genesee, and studying Russian. She is excited to learn about psychology in its birth place, brush up on her German and live in the beautiful city of Vienna.</span></p>

Destination:
Term:
2013 Summer 1, 2013 Summer 2
Home University:
University of Rochester
Major:
Psychology
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