I got to check off five more things on my life’s list.

I don’t know if you all remember an article that I wrote a couple of months ago about my life’s list and the monkey at Sonic.

The article was my attempt to persuade all you out there to make your own list of some of the things that you might like to do in your lives.

Well, some time has passed and I have some exciting news regarding my list and my travel-study to Europe with my International Communications class.

March 6, 2003 was a big day for me and 10 other bright-eyed soon-to-be tourists that I would spend the next eleven days with. We loaded onto a bus outside the university center at about 8 o’clock that morning, with no idea of the adventure that was before us.

I had a notebook full of places I wanted to go and things that I had to see while in Europe, but was unsure of how much I would actually have time to do.

My very first plane ride, and number 64 on my list, left the Memphis Airport around five o’clock that afternoon. I was so excited, and I got to sit by the window. Later that night I left on my second flight from Atlanta to London. What a way to go for a girl’s second flight ever. I don’t remember much of the flight because I slept, but I’m sure it was lovely. Heather Nicholson, I wish we could have sat in First Class!

We landed in London the next morning, and the moment my feet hit the ground in a foreign land, my life changed forever.

I have never left the Southeast United States, so please keep that in mind. I was a little nervous because of the state that the world was in at that time, and because of the fear associated with the uncertainty of the war our country would be involved in by the time that I returned home and to school.

The five days that we spent in London were so exciting. We got to see so many of the things that I have only seen in pictures in my lifetime.

We saw the double-decker buses, the British Museum, the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, Kensington Palace, Notting Hill, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, and we even got to go to a church service at Westminster Abbey. Those places were extraordinary, but my favorite stop of all was my trip to Abbey Road.

Before I left for my trip, I saw the cover of the Beatles’ album, Abbey Road. I just had to see it for myself.

Needless to say, the most daring thing that I have ever done in my life would have to be the journey that three girls took trying to find that darn road.

We ran into a local that claimed to be friends with “Paul” and the “Stones,” and who grew to dislike me because of my non-British pronunciation of some of the local places. We also risked our lives trying to get the famous picture of the crosswalk in front of Abbey Road Studios.

London was everything that I hoped for during my time abroad, but France was a whole new world.

Needless to say, the French are not/were not so happy with the United States because of our differing opinions and views of the situation in the Middle East.

Our entire group was a bit nervous about being in a place that so far from home during a time of political conflict, but the people that we met at Ketchum Public Relations firm assured us that our time in France would be memorable if we looked past the difficulties involved with war and enjoy the French culture.

It took some time and traumatic experiences that effected different members of our group, but we gained a new understanding of what it takes to be able to communicate effectively from an international standpoint-and that is sensitivity.

We saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louver, the Arc de Triomphe and even ventured to Versailles for an afternoon. One of our most unique cultural experiences involved our stop at a cemetery where we saw the graves of Chopin and Jim Morrison of the Doors.

We took in some of the culture, and managed to get in a trip or two to the Golden Arches (McDonald’s). Travolta was correct in the movie Pulp Fiction, “They don’t even know what a quarter pounder is. They use the metric system. In France, they call it a Royal with cheese.” Thank heavens for McDonald’s.

Not only did I learn that you shouldn’t order water with gas in it, but I also learned that people could communicate even if they don’t share a language.

One night, we met some students from Italy that didn’t speak any English. We laughed, danced and listened to J. Lo. I also learned that it is a small world after all, and all people want is respect and sensitivity when it comes to the place in which they call home.

Misty Autry is a senior Communications major from Medina.