Castle

Chapter 1

Castle
Chapter 1

I'm pretty sure that for the rest of my life, if anyone ever asks me what was the most insanely spontaneous thing I've ever done, the answer would lie right in this moment. It was this moment that would end up changing my life forever, leaving an everlasting impact and defining me as a person.
Oh, and also completely messing with my heart.

It was the moment I said "yes".

Only once I hung up the phone did I fully register what I got myself into, and the sudden overwhelming feeling made me burst into tears out of fear of the unknown, which in this case, was the next five months of my life in a foreign country.

The phone call had been rushed and awkward, and I hadn't understood most of it. But on the other line an unfamiliar voice told me she got my number through a mutual friend, and that she was looking for a partner to fly with her to Russia for five months as part of the college curriculum. All three of her friends had canceled last minute due to various reasons, and the rules are that each approved location must have at least two students. Since the semester starts next week and she still didn't have a partner, she was searching high and low for anyone naive enough to jump into this proposition without knowing her prior, and without any time to think it over.

I was said naive.

I knew about this college program. It's my second year as an English major and as part of the curriculum, all second year students must engage in "practical work" for one semester. Regular studies resume on campus the second semester.

For this "practical work" we could choose to either volunteer at our neighborhood school, or we could fly to another country and teach English as a Second Language in a foreign country. My choice was the simpler one, and I never entertained the idea of venturing off to some unknown place with unknown conditions. I had myself set on my former high school where I would teach a few English classes and call it a day. It was within walking distance of my house, and didn't require 24/7 commitment. It almost seemed too easy, and I liked easy. Lately I've been looking for the easy way out of things. Or the lazy way. Or the "have somebody else do it for me easy lazy way". Which wouldn't work in this case but you get my drift.

However I forgot all about my lazy aura when I heard the words "Russia" and "adventure". I've thought about visiting Russia since my mother is from Russia and she'd always tell me stories of her childhood there. Having a Russian mom also resulted in me knowing how to speak a good bit of Russian, and I knew that would be a tremendous advantage. I've heard from friends who have already completed their practical work that not knowing the language of the country they were in was quite challenging, and they had to communicate mostly through sign language. They were lucky if the locals knew a bit of broken English, and here I'm thinking "this is great, I'll be that one cool girl who actually speaks the language".

And honestly, I was in need of an adventure. I was so fed up with doing the same old thing every day. Wake up, go to college, sit through classes, go home, eat, sleep. Every. single. day. On replay. It was torture. I needed a change. I needed excitement. I need to do something I love and enjoy, and I happen to love traveling.

I've come to the conclusion that I can't just do the things I HAVE to do and be expected to be happy and love life. I was slowly becoming an unemotional zombie on autopilot, and I was desperately seeking anything to snap me out of it.
I was done hibernating in my bedroom.

"Yes." That's all it took.

"Yes?" The girl on the other line stopped in the middle of her sentence and questioned incredulously. "Are you really saying yes?"