1. Grad School sucks the life out of you, day after day, but still, it ends up being an amazing 2-5 years. 
2. First finding the 'RIGHT' grad school seems to be a never-ending task, so when find the right school take the offer as being happy can be better than taking the school offering the most money.
3. Having to find your first off-campus house in fun and exciting (hello Pinterest worthy living spaces) until you have to pay a deposit, rent, and all the utility bills and get stuck with a shitty landlord. 
4. Finding your advisor 'can' be fun, that is until the advisor you really want to work with tries to talk you out of it 3 times at an hour each and all of the grad students warn you against him. But my advice: go with your gut, chose someone whose research interests you. 
5. Accept the fact that after your done with your degree, you will be a semi mini-version of your advisor. I now listen to Reggae music when doing research, have a constant supply of snarky comments to share, and respond with the word 'check'. I am now a mini version of Coach, and while I pretend to hate it all, he has really helped/taught/mentored me!
6. Classes are not all that bad, although there will be moments where you swear off another semester of grad school. Push through, it gets better!!!
7. You will get very close to the other grad students in your program and ones that are in your lab. They will understand the bullshit request of Dr E and the crazy revisions requested by Dr H. They will be there for support, nights out, the good times, the bad times, and there to celebrate with you when it is all over. 
8. Grad school is like a full-time job, except with a more extended winter break. Yes, only a winter break because during the summer you will be at school working away! Trust me though you will probably be way more productive during the summer, no other students to deal with. 
9. CAFFEINE, COFFEE, AND MORE CAFFEINE = Survival. 
10. Speaking of beverages to survive through grad school, add some beer. De-stressing is necessary, and alcohol helps with this. So find a local bar and enjoy! Trust me the hard times require some liquid encouragement to go back the next day and get shit done!
11. You will need to stop being a procrastinator. Shit does not work in grad school. Sure you will have to pull all-nighters, but generally, it is because your research has failed for the 10th time and you have a presentation to get ready for. 
12. Grad School will teach you that it's ok to fail and that you should be damn happy about the few successes. 
13. Speaking of failures, you will think of dropping out. It's ok, I did it on a bi-weekly basis until I was working on my thesis and it was the daily basis. School is hard, especially grad school, but stick with it, and you will make it through, eventually.
14. You will have to take steps back every now and then and press refresh, burnout is a real thing. Learning to push through exhaustion, however, is part of the learning experience. 
15. Lastly, while I joke about how grad school is terrible, that my advisor sucked and that I wanted to drop out. In the end, you will look back (most likely at your completed thesis) and say suck it grad school, I kicked your ass! 

1. Trying to book the perfect plane ticket. I don't want to leave to early ( I have to make sure to say all of my goodbyes) and I want to start early enough so that I can kinda settle before orientation on Jan. 12th. Oh, yea and I also depend on my leave date based on ticket prices #cheapcollegestudent
2. PACKING..... What can I say, I am moving for 3 years meaning that I will need to pack things for all 4 seasons, books/research stuff, holy technology (3 laptops, 1 camera, phone, etc.) and all of the other stuff aka clothing/shoes. Plus I have to pack it all in 2-3 suitcases...
3. MONEY like any other poor college student, the money conversion and being broke terrifies me. Yes, I have quite a lot of saving, but I know how quite a lot (for me anyway) may not go that far. As for figuring it out, I think for at least 6 months I should be good to go and then after that will be interesting! 
4. Finding a place to live. This is actually number one, but I was trying to go in some type of chronological order. And yes you read that correctly, I have no place to live yet! I have been looking at a couple of websites for flatshares, but until I am there, it is just hard. 
5. Starting a PhD program. Yikes, another degree, school and advisor. All of these things are terrifying. Questions like- What if I am not what they expected? What if I am not smart enough? What if I just suck in general? Are only a few of the ones in my head. 
6. Navigating Scotland. Being from America and where I grew up, public transit was not something that I ever used! Personally, I am excited about the idea of not having to drive, but the idea of making it everywhere via walking/public
7. Meeting people. I love to have a social life, a tiny one, but none the less a social life. I am hoping to find a place that will have roommates open to social nights out and helping to show me the city. 
8. Being alone. I guess this should have higher as well. I am moving away from family and away from JC. For the last 6 years I have had fantastic support with JC always being there to push me, and of course, my family has always been there. 
9. Travelling. I personally want to see everything and anything that I can. I want to utilise my time in Scotland making sure that I not only explore Scotland but other places. While this is something that excites me, it is also something that scares me. My love for adventure is both expensive, exhausting and exhilarating. 
10. Seeing how I will change. I am not sure that this scares me, but I do know that my life outlook will change. I am moving to a foreign country, I am starting a PhD, and I honestly have no idea what is in store for me! 

Travel post #1 as I start prepping for Scotland involves searching for the 'perfect' carry-on tote. Yes a tote bag, that I will also use as a carry-on, but I also hope to get something that can be used for future travel and possibly on the day-to-day basis. What exactly do I want in my carry-on: a bag to hold my computer, pockets for my wallet/passport/tickets, shoulder strap so I can wear it as a cross-body, and space for all the extras. There are of course some bonus bags that also have a separate compartment for shoes, making those bags ideal for weekend trips!

If any of you have the perfect carry-on tote, let me know, all advice will be appreciated!!!

1. Go out with friends/host a get-together/go to a tailgate. Whatever floats your boat, make sure that you spend time with the people who make you smile, make you laugh, and people that you will miss once you leave college. Believe it or not, after you leave getting together with everyone is exponentially harder. 
2. Make a badass resume and a general cover letter that you can use for applications (jobs, internships and graduate schools included). Have a professor look at it this way once you're out in the real world you will be ready to get the job you want! 
3. DO SOMETHING THAT YOU WILL REGRET. Drink on the roof of a building on campus; go out with that guy who you have a crush on; go out to a party and enjoy it so much that the morning after is miserable. Whatever it is, make sure it is something that you have been wanting to do and haven't had the guts to do. 
4. Head out and support a sports team or a school activity. Believe it or not, going to a game is not miserable, there is a pre-game tailgate! Plus showing school spirit is part of college. 
5. Talk with your professors, the ones that have had an impact on you, and tell them that. They will be the ones that you will need for recommendations letters and possible job connections, so showing them that they impacted you will pay off. 
6. Take a last minute weekend trip/ road trip with your friends. Rent a cabin, go camping, head to the beach and watch the sunrise. Moments like those are the ones that you will remember 
7. Break into the campus pool and throw a senior pool party. I did this at Wingate and although the water may have been freezing, the thrill of breaking in and then running when the campus security guard broke it up, I will forever say it was 100% worth it. 
8. Clean up your social media. While I totally prefer the 'fun' things on this list, making sure that you are ready for the adult world is a necessary thing to do. And it is 100% true that some bosses will Google and check up on you before your hired, it happened to me in Indy. 
9. Go through all of your coursework and books and figure out what to keep. Creating a college reference binder will help for graduate school and reviewing things for your future jobs.
10. Learn how to write a proper 'Thank You Note'. Not only will you need these for all the graduation gifts, but they are also lovely to give as one final Thank You for your professors. 

Now that I am officially done with my thesis, aka the most stressful event in my life so far, I can now focus on actually getting to Scotland. Now I am pretty sure the second most stressful event in my life will be all the fun that comes with actually getting to Scotland. With this joy of an application process, I thought that I would share all that I have figured out as both a guide for anyone who plans to study abroad in the future and also to anyone who has done this and can point out any tips that they have!

Well, hope this list gives you kind of idea about 'Where to start when you want to study abroad'.