I'm getting very nervous...

Hey JB, your nervousness is entirely understandable. I think the things that scare you are always the best (excluding great white sharks and double barrelled shotguns,etc., of course).
Just use your common sense, stay alert and have confidence in yourself- it'll probably be a life-changing experience for you and I bet you have a great time!

Your feelings are natural... your nervousnes, being scared and excited are really so closed together that they kinda mesh into one another. You will be fine. Don't be surprised when you come home and realize that you want to go back and continue to discover this lovely world. Rick Steves says we are ambassadors of the US and he is right. I believe travelling is living!

I wish I had done what you are doing when I was 20. I didnt go abroad for the first time until I was 31 and that was to Ireland where my mam was born and raised. I've spent the last 14 years travelling as much as I can abroad. It is a little daunting being so far away, but you will fine. In regard to your contact w/your family it really is a global world out there... you could easily stay connected using internet @ internet cafe's, the local libraries etc...

RE: The dreaded homesickness. I did get homesick on my first trip abroad; which I was totally mortified about when I finally admitted that to myself, but I owned that feeling and that made me feel better. Something that ended up working for me on my 2nd and 3rd trip abroad ...this is gonna sound really lame; but I took one of my pillow cases from home(folds up very small); one that I had put on my pillow at home about a week before my 2nd and 3rd trip; and I would use it over my pillow wherever I was abroad. It sounds very wierd, but it worked. I would use it for the first day or so; as it had the 'smell' from home and strangely enough it worked.

hey I know how you feel, but don't worry you will be fine. I was the same was as you, even though I don't live with my parents anymore, I go to school in the same city as them, so Im used to seeing them often.

First of all, get skype, it allows you to talk to them for free or next to nothing rates, its how I kept in touch with my friends and family, and if you have a webcam, thats even better.

Secondly, after the first few days of excitment getting settled in, beating jet lag etc, you may feel a bit of homesickness, think perhaps it was a mistake, but push past it and in a few days you'll feel like you'll never want to leave. Get out and do things, make new friends, don't hole up in your room talking to the people back home alll the time. Don't think that things are changing and your missing out on things. It's strange how much things DONT change while your away.

P.S. I found that my family and close friends loved postcards, so even through it may seem old-fashioned now, send some anyway.

Your going to have the most amazing experience of your life, so take a breather and get excited!

My first trip outside the country, aside from a couple of days in Canada, was my semester abroad in Austria when I was 19. I spoke no German, I was to live with a family, and I was nervous about it, too. And this was in the days when there was no email, and just to call home required going to the post office in the middle of the day to make an expensive international call. At times it was hard being away, but I was doing things I could not have believed I'd be doing, seeing things no one in my family had seen (yet), and having a great time.

Homesickness was occasionally an issue for me, but it has to be better in this age of email and phone cards. Relax -- you'll have a wonderful time!

JB--I suspect that after a few days you'll be enjoying your new surroundings so much, you'll just laugh at how nervous you were! I really hope you'll have a chance to check-in here with us to let us know how you're doing!

I had the same concern when I made my first trip to Europe. I was in my mid twenties and living on my own, but had daily contact with family and many friends. I was sure I would be lonely and homesick. It didn't happen. I had a fabulous summer and have returned to Europe every year since (33 years!) Thanks to the internet you can still "talk" to your parents every day. Just think of the exciting answers you will have to "how was your day?".

Excellent response Carole...couldn't have said it any better. I too traveled my first time to Europe at 19. I'm now 59 and still going back. Unfortunately, not every year but every time finances will allow it. JB, my fears were there back then and still there with each trip but always gone after a day. Take it slow, relax, and enjoy. You will come back with memories that will last a lifetime. I still think back to those of 40 years ago.

JB, you must not go,, you must send your airline ticket and money to me, I will go for you and report back!! LOL No need to be fearful,, I will be fine,, thanks,, address is :

1234 GoingforFree street
Wineandcheese County,
Canada

Or go and have fun, never mind fear, you will have the best time of your life, you will meet so many kids your age doing the same thing you will have a ball.
I went to Europe when I was 23 for almost 3 months, and I only phoned home about 2x,, not because I didn't love my family but because it was so expensive back then( 85) and this was before email and cell phones etc. ,, trust me, I was too busy having fun, meeting people seeing amazing sites, that phoning home was just not a big deal. I realize in this day and age people seem to have developed this thing about being in constant communication with each other, but you know, long distance phone calls were so expensive in years gone by that families wrote letters mostly, with calls only for important stuff , we survived just fine, and in fact I think it pushes you out of your shell a bit more if you DON'T try and talk to family daily.

Good point Pat.
You get so you will get to know yourself better, find yourself when you are on your own. I really know about this through my own experience.
You will have a wonderful time!!

JB,...My wife was like that when we first travelled after we got married....she hadn't been anywhere, and was very close to her family. So on our first trip to Europe together, I told her to psych herself into believing we were just flying to a neighbouring city to visit her sister. When we got of the plane and they stamped her passport, and she saw all those cars on the other side of the road, her reaction was, "Gosh...here I am in London!" Once she got there, everything was fine....so many new experiences and people to meet, that any thought of homesickness vanished. I haven't been able to hold her back since! As Vanessa says, get Skye (and make sure your parents know how to operate it!) before you go, and you'll be just fine! It won't be long before you develop a new "comfort zone"...humans are amazingly adaptable.

I remember how I felt the few weeks before I moved to London for a semester - I was so worried that the family I was staying with would hate me, that I wouldn't make any friends, and that I'd be miserable. The first two days I was clueless and pretty uncomfortable - I kept getting lost in Kingston, felt like I was imposing on the family, etc. but as soon as school started everything was WONDEFUL. I made the most amazing friends, the family I rented from was fantastic, and when I got back to the states I was more "homesick" for London than I had ever been for the states!! Four years later and I'm still "homesick"!

I am also very close to my family but there's so much to see and do you won't have time to be homesick! I bought a calling card and called my parents every two weeks or so as well as e-mailed weekly. I wish I could do it all over again! My only regret was not studying abroad for a full year. Good luck and have a blast!