How Ambassador Emily Took the Leap to Study Abroad: The Joy Beyond the Fear
As a once-impassioned fan of Harry Potter and One Direction, it’s been my dream to study abroad in London since I was 11 years old. Aching to walk down cobblestone streets, enjoy afternoon tea, and catch a show on the West End, I began planning for a semester abroad the second I got my acceptance letter to USC. I can still remember my very first meeting with my academic advisor, hardly able to sit still as she penciled in “London – Study Abroad” next to my junior year spring. I couldn’t wait.
Fast forward one year, and I found myself settling in behind the too-small desk in my childhood bedroom. Typing in yet another passcode, another meeting ID, I started taking notes as my professor began lecturing on ledes and nutgrafs. As the weeks and months ticked by – our ever-vicious battle with Covid waging on with no end in sight – my dreams of studying abroad shifted increasingly out of focus; rather than excitement or adventure, I longed for calm – the mundanity and stability of an ordinary campus life.
It was August of my junior year when I finally made it back to USC. Beyond excited to be back in Los Angeles, I made it a priority to make this city – this life – truly feel like home. Strolling through the galleries at the Academy Museum, laughing with friends in the Village, and laying in the grass on sunny days at Echo Park, I truly fell in love with life in LA and at USC. I submitted my application to Annenberg International, but with every passing day, I felt more and more unsure about leaving my lovely little life here in California. As orientation videos and packing lists started filling my inbox, London became less of a romantic daydream and more of a looming threat. “After two long years of uncertainty, LA is just now starting to feel like home,” I constantly thought to myself. “Am I really going to leave this comfort – this security – to plunge myself back into the unknown?”
My feet were made of lead as I shuffled through the airport that last Tuesday morning. Trudging through security and waving a final goodbye to my parents, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do less than get on that plane. In that moment, I wasn’t a student, an Ambassador, or a Trojan; I was just a timid girl from Tennessee, terrified of stepping outside my newly-minted comfort zone.
But, in the back of my mind, a whisper of hope cut through the cacophony of chaos: “Just three years ago, you were equally as terrified to get on a plane to Los Angeles,” it said. “Now – just like then – it’s time to take the leap.”
Exactly a year later, here I sit, once again enveloped by the warm embrace of LA, of USC, of home. But after spending five of the most exciting, most rewarding, most challenging months of my life in a city I’m so fortunate to now love, my mind no longer sows anxiety at the thought of London or the UK; instead, it blooms with some of the most beautiful memories I’ve ever had the privilege of calling my own. As I scroll through photos of days spent strolling around Bloomsbury, perusing Portobello Market, and picnicking in Regent’s Park, I feel a gratitude so visceral I can’t help but smile. In everything from Sundays at the National Gallery to long weekends spent in Ireland and Italy, my semester in London showed me just how much joy and fulfillment can lie just beyond my worry and fear – if only I’m brave enough to take the leap.
Throughout our lives, there are always so many reasons to say no: “It’s too far,” “It’s too risky,” “It’s just not the right time.” But, over the past year, Annenberg has taught me to find the one reason to say yes – and to cling to it with everything I’ve got. Rejecting the grip of fear and saying yes despite the discomfort gave me a piece of my dreams – of the world – and I want to urge you: Take the leap. You never know what cobblestone street it might lead to.
(pictured left to right): Ambassador Rachel, Ambassador Emily, and fellow Annenberg student Audrey enjoy a Spring afternoon in Greenwich Park, South London.
