Okay guys, I am in a rut and like KCL and SD, would like to know what you guys think (even though I'm pretty sure I know what you'll say). I have become obsessed with going to Oz and NZ ever since coming back from Spain/Portugal...I guess hanging out with so many Australians got to me. And I've decided I'm going to study in Tokyo next year, spring of 2006. I thought about studying in NZ or Oz but there's no guarantee the credits would transfer and I can't take that risk and possibly get screwed. I realized if I had 2, probably 3 months, I could see a great deal and feel "satisfied" with "doing" Oz/NZ, in case I never get back. And I'm obsessed with "doing" that area of the world (SE Asia, Oz/NZ) since I'd be in Tokyo afterwards anyway.
So this would mean that I'd go to Oz and NZ in Oct. or Nov. and travel around until heading to Tokyo in January. That's all well and good, but that would mean a semester off of school (law school), because they will not budge about things and I wouldn't be able to take exams and finish until mid December. And I'm selfish and 2-3 weeks isn't enough time to do those two countries....
I could go after Tokyo but that'd be during their fall/winter, and I'd rather go when it's summer there...
My potential plan would be go study in Argentina this summer for 5 weeks (another long story), then come back and work my ass off from July-October to get as much $$ as possible, then take off for all this.
The major thing holding me back is what a lot of people are saying: taking a semester off and then being in Tokyo, I'll be gone a whole year and "miss things" here at school. It's really hard to make friends and I don't have too many close ones here at school and I'd like to graduate law school having a few close friends but that might be hard to do taking off for a year and then coming back for only one more year. Plus I'd have to take more classes next summer and a heavy load every other semester to graduate on time. Overall, my family says Argentina and Tokyo is enough to get excited about.
But the other, carefree part of me is like: I am 21, graduated college in 3 years and have SO MUCH TIME to get out and start practicing law. And even if I graduate a little late, who cares? When I get out, I'll have to get a real job, start paying off tons of loans, and might never again have 2-3 months to backpack around foreign countries. I know I wouldn't regret taking the semester off and going, but years down the road will I look back and say, wow I should've made some friends and not always done my own thing and gone travelling to meet tons of people but most of whom I don't stay in touch with?? I seem to have become so obsessed with travel it's like the real world/real people who are right here don't seem as important anymore and I think that's dangerous...
And I really could regret that mindset down the road if I'm all alone; memories of trips are great but one needs close friends...am I removing myself from reality and caught up too much in travelling?
Ok, I will stop. This is too long. Sorry I cannot make a poll b/c I am an idiot. Thanks in advance for reading all this; I usually don't like to talk this much about myself on here but need some different opinions besides my family and friends here.
1) Take fall semester off and do Oz and NZ, then go to Tokyo
2) school fall semester, Tokyo spring, and save Oz and NZ until later in life
3) school fall semester, Tokyo, then Oz and NZ in the summer (their fall/winter)
4) Something else?
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