Should I Stay or Should I Go

The Boston School of Occupational Therapy is unique in the fact that it is one of the few (I think) OT grad programs to offer study abroad opportunities. There are three international schools that I could potentially study at; Queen Margret University College in Scotland, Oxford Brooks University in London, or Karolinska in Sweden. Pretty cool, huh? If I went, it would be during my spring semester in 2009. So now that you have the background, here are my thoughts.

I never got a chance to study abroad as an undergrad, and really regret that. All of the people that I know who went abroad had a great time. Then again, this is not undergraduate, this is graduate level studies. Could I even hack it abroad?

Going abroad would also push me back by a good 6 months. Is it worth the extra money? Katie [a classmate] made the point that she would just rather save the money from going abroad, and just travel sans school for 5 months, which is perfectly reasonable point. Would I not be able to enjoy my stay in a different country if I had to focus on school? Will I have the time (or money) to travel for a few months? (Or a friend to travel with, I don't think I could, or would want, to do the solo traveling thing outside of the US.)

Oh decisions, decisions. Any semi-quick decisions; applications are due October 15th. I feel the same sort of stress that I feel when I think about my fieldwork II. How can I be expected to make decisions about my life 2 years in advance when I barely know what I'm doing next month? In two years I could potentially be in a serious relationship where I wouldn't want to leave, or I could even be married! (Okay, 99% chance of not being married, but Audrey, didn't your friend get engaged after only knowing the girl for three days??)

Its in times like these when my two halves do battle. The wanderer part of me says go and don't look back. The other part of me (whatever you want to call it) says to do what's "safe." I wonder who I'll listen to.