First Impressions: Loving It!

Traveling from the east coast all the way to Alaska is a long haul to say the least. Aside from the flight leaving at 6 in the morning (meaning we had to arrive at the airport by 4 a.m...), the journey wasn’t horrible! My parents really wanted to see Alaska and where I would be staying for the next four months, so we took this opportunity to plan a small vacation the week before school started. We flew into Seattle for a few hours, did some exploring, and then headed on to Anchorage. While we were there, we hiked up to some avalanche debris, saw a BUNCH of moose, and went on some pretty phenomenal boat tours (I highly recommend visiting Kenai Fjords National Park– we saw plenty of unique wildlife there alongside some incredible glacier views). After that, we finally arrived in Juneau! We went whale watching a few times here, saw some bears (from a safe distance, of course), and explored the area. I’m still blown away by how beautiful it is here. Being wedged in between mountains and Auke Bay makes Juneau one of the most impressive places I’ve ever seen. Plus, it’s not every day that you can just walk down to the beach and see humpback whales feeding (or bears catching salmon).

Next was the actual move-in day. It was both an easy experience and an absolutely exhausting day. Getting checked in and shoving my suitcases in my room was definitely the easiest part. The rest of it was spent shopping for supplies and groceries that I couldn’t prepare for in advance. We spent the rest of the day procrastinating the dreaded send-off and searching for bears (we saw two cubs playing off one of the main roads– SO cool). Then I finally had to say goodbye to my parents :( I definitely have mixed feelings about it– It’s extremely difficult to be so far away from friends and family, but at the same time, I’m excited for school and the adventures I’ll have while I’m up here. We already checked off a bunch of activities from my Alaskan bucket list, which I’m super excited about! I’m currently finishing up orientation and my first few days of classes at UAS– which is a beautiful campus with incredibly friendly people (I’ve already made a couple of friends!). Once I get through this first week, I’ll be updating the bucket list blog and letting you all know how my classes are going, so definitely stay tuned!