The One With the Introduction

 Hello and welcome to my blog!

    I'm Tymon Burghy and I've taken on the adventure of a lifetime. In the middle of a global pandemic, I've said goodbye to all of my friends and family in Ohio, and within two days of getting my visa, jumped on board a jumbo jet headed for London. 

    Let's jump back a couple years to get to the reason why I am currently sitting in a cafe in London.
In December of 2017, I met a man named Will at an event called SHiFT in Huntsville, Alabama. I soon came to find out that Will taught design at a school called Radley College, in the UK, in talking to him more, he told me of an intern opportunity at the school for design students. There were several of the previous interns at the event and I was able to talk to them about it. 
The idea of studying or interning in a foreign country has always intrigued me, I've had friends study abroad in Ireland, Greece, Italy, Japan, and many other places, and I had always dreamed that one day I would too be able to travel somewhere to learn about their culture and further my formal education. 
I exchanged contact information with Will so that I could continue to talk to him after the event. I didn't put much thought into the prospect of interning at Radley College as I was studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Dayton and had (and still have) very little intent to become a teacher. 

    In December of 2018, I had a change of heart, I packed up my dorm room at the University of Dayton and left the school. I transferred to the Columbus College of Art and Design and began to pursue a degree in Industrial Design rather than Mechanical Engineering. This decision came after many hours of talking with my father, who teaches Industrial Design at CCAD, and countless office hours with my engineering professors. The conclusion that we (mainly) unanimously came to was that I had too much of a design brain to just be an engineer, I had the creativity and drive of a designer, but I still thought like an engineer. 
Making this change opened up all of the possibilities that the world of design provided, including the option to intern at Radley College. Luckily, I had kept in touch with Will, and continued to keep in touch with him until I felt that I was ready to take on a challenge such as passing on what I had learned, as well as my passion for the field. 

    In early November of 2019, I had an interview with Radley's Academic Director and was awarded the internship. I was to start the next September, at the beginning of their Michaelmas (Fall) Term. I didn't even have a passport yet, but I was excited to start the adventure. 

    But in March of 2020, crisis stuck the world, I'll go into the challenges that COVID-19 presented in another post, but I had to be delayed to coming to the UK due to the virus, I was told I would be starting in the beginning of November, with the possibility of my start being pushed to January. I kept my hopes up that I would be leaving in November. In early October I found out that I would have to quarantine for two weeks before I started, so my date that I would have to leave the states on the 17th of that month. I quickly got all of my paperwork in order and submitted my visa application. Within two weeks, I got my passport back with my visa, had my flight scheduled, hotel booked, and I said my farewells. I boarded a plane in Columbus, had a layover in Chicago, and then 13 hours after I said goodbye to my family, I was walking off the plane at Heathrow Airport in London. 

    So stay tuned to hear about my adventures here in the UK. Cheers!

Best,
Tymon