So, I haven’t really written anything here for a good while. That’s not because I’ve had a boring semester; this semester has been absolutely fantastic. And it’s also not because I haven’t had any interesting events to talk about; among other things I’ve climbed stadiums, had magnificent and tumultuous gatherings of friends and friends-of-friends, and run along McKeldin Mall in my underwear (admittedly with several hundred others for a rather good cause). No, I haven’t written anything here because I’m lazy, and because I forgot. The Semester’s almost over, and I’ll be returning home to England reasonably soon. In just over a month’s time, in fact. I’m very sad to be leaving, and I’m sure I’ll be writing something about that pretty soon, but for now I’m going to settle for keying people in to my travel plans.

Semester finishes on the 18th of May, and I get to stay in the country until the 19th of June. I’ll actually be flying out of JFK on the 18th of June, but between the end of semester and that time I’ll be visiting friends around the country, and also just travelling on my own for a good old time. First thing’s first, myself and a few of my good friends are going to glamorous New Jersey. One of my friends has a beach house there, and we intend to relax there for just over a week. I’ve been told it’ll also be possible for us to make a trip to the as-seen-on-Jersey-Shore famous cultural centre and prospective World Heritage Site of Seaside Heights. Other than that I’d also be sad if I don’t get the opportunity to visit the Statue of Liberty at some point.

After this a friend and I are flying out to San Francisco, California to meet another of my friends who is going to be working in a national park up in northern California. We’ll be spending a few days in a hostel in San Francisco, though my friend is hardly thrilled with the idea of staying in a hostel, and then spending the weekend up in the national park, where I hope we aren’t accosted by bears.

After this I’ll be flying out of San Francisco on my own to Chicago. I’ll spend about four days there, walking around, seeing the sights, and hopefully meeting other travellers, before heading off via long train journey to New Orleans. Now, that’s really a very long train journey; over a day in fact. But it saves me around three hundred dollars, so I’m somewhat comfortable with the idea.

So finally I’ll spend five days in New Orleans before heading back up to New Jersey to collect my suitcases, say a final goodbye to a couple of my close friends, and then leave the country semi-permanently. But while I’m in New Orleans I’ll be sure to see the sights, taste the southern foods, delight in the southern drawls, and get too comfortable with a group of other travellers, before deciding to trust them, following them to a ‘fun party’ with ‘some of their friends’ in an unfamiliar part of town, and being robbed and brutally murdered. Sorry mum, that’s definitely not going to happen. But if something very bad does happen, well, then this blog post will take on an undesired but not entirely unforeseen level of morbidity.

Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. And I’m hoping I’ll have a great time. I’ll be very careful, and I’ll see everyone back home soon enough. Maybe I’ll write a little bit more about my semester between revision for finals this and next week. Otherwise my last post from America will be a kind of goodbye-letter to everyone from College Park, and elsewhere in the States, that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing.

Bye for now,

Nick