Alas, I have reached the end, I am staring at the point of no return... I feel as though I am crossing the threshold of the known, about to pass into the depths of mystery and adventure!
Alright, alright, enough with the drama. But, it should be noted, in all seriousness, that I am about to board a 757-200 bound for Shannon, Ireland. It's been a long summer, but here I am, finally, in the airport, with a (miraculously) packed suitcase being boarded as I watch from the terminal window, clinging to my carry-on. Why, you may ask, would I be blogging about this? This inconsequential step in the entire study abroad experience, this pee-wee moment that no one ever writes about, 'this silly blog,' you must be thinking. For those of you have ever studied abroad, or have had siblings or children that have studied abroad, you know perfectly well why I am writing about this moment. It is not inconsequential or pee-wee, it is the very moment that it all finally sinks in: I am leaving my home, my family, my friends, my country for months. Months. Sure, I've been out of the country before, heck, I even went out of the country entirely alone to stay with family friends in Germany when I was in high school. But that trip was only two weeks! I'll be in Ireland far, far longer than two weeks. So, as you might imagine, there are quite a few emotions causing some serious discomfort as they go rolling around in the pit of my stomach (it could also be the anticipation of those lovely airplane meals that we all love so much, but I'm going to stick with emotions). Here's a short list of what I'm feeling at the moment: what if I don't make friends, what if my house-mates are weird and/or creepy, what if I lose my passport, what if I hate it, what if I love it too much to come home, what if I fall off of the Cliffs of Moher, what if I get lost in Dublin, what if, what if, what if... Can you level with me now?
Now, with all of these emotions giving me doubts, you may be wondering how it is that I got to this spot, this window ledge in the Newark Airport terminal. Yes? Well, it is a long story, but if you want, you can read on to find out.
Monday:
My Monday was much like many others that I have had this past summer... I had a lot to do and seemingly no inclination to actually do it. I spent a good hour at a local animal shelter playing with a particularly portly feline named Lawrence. As I sat with Lawrence, I thought about all of the things that I needed to do still: pack, get my immigration paperwork together, pack, buy the last remaining items that I still lacked, pack. Surprisingly enough, these are all of the things that about three months ago I had already been planning and making lists as to not forget anything, yet, three days before leaving I was completely unable to do any of it! Why? I think those emotions we talked about earlier were starting to creep up on me. Every time I went near my empty suitcase, lying open in wait in the center of my bedroom, I felt my stomach drop like a bowling ball, so like every grown adult, I walked briskly out of my room and shut the door behind.
Tuesday:
Here is where my parents became distressed at the sight of my empty suitcase and still incomplete immigration paperwork folder. But no worries, I totally had it all under control, it would all be fine. I set out (with a resolution to pack and finish gathering my paperwork that very afternoon) to the couch where I proceeded to fill out an adoption form for Lawrence, who my parents said I couldn't adopt until May at the earliest. Yes, I was fully capable of doing paperwork to adopt a cat that I can't actually adopt until a time about nine months in the future, but packing a suitcase and organizing paperwork was too difficult. At any rate, I did in fact get my paperwork together. It took a lot of prompting, but it got done! After that baby step I finally felt ready to... well... get ready. So, I took the plunge and added my father on Skype. Now, I was really ready to go: paperwork in place, communication waves open and working, all I needed was a change of clothes!
Wednesday:
With a feverish delight, I swept around my room and closet, picking up any and all clothing within reach, and dumped it all in my suitcase. Packing and re-packing and re-re-packing until I had a mountain of clean and dirty clothes sticking out of the gaping mouth of my open suitcase... I thought it looked rather like a clothing K-2.
Of course, there's no clothing heep to large that a space bag can't handle. I set about the task of tearing down my clothing K-2 and washing the dirty clothes while carefully folding my clean clothing (my days learning to fold at Brooks Brothers have finally come into real use!) as to fit properly into a space bag. Together we sat for an hour, folding, packing, squeezing, rolling, pushing, vacuuming and stomping items of clothing and shoes into my suitcase... it was rather akin to an aerobics class. And thus, my hurtles hurtled, I had one final task to complete before setting off for the airport: a haircut.
Earlier Today:
For those of you who know me, you know as a girl who always has a bun (probably with pens or pencils sticking out of it). My hair is always up. It is in the "upright and stowed position" as to avoid any mishaps due to frizz, and general excessiveness. So, I figured, hey, I'm off to a new school, in a new country, where no one knows me... might as well fix the hair situation! Bright and early this morning I got up, got in my car and drove to my haircut appointment. Now, of all of the tasks I had in the last few days, this was the single most dreaded, anticipated moment of them all. It overshadowed my moment here, at the terminal (before I actually got here, you know, in the terminal)! After a few complaints and a lot of discussion over my aversion to curling and flattening irons, my stylist came up with the final result. Finally, after a M*A*S*H marathon and a fare-thee-well to my dog, I was ready to set off for the airport!
But alas, I am on the precipice, the brink, the end of the wait... I am being called to board!
Now, with all of these emotions giving me doubts, you may be wondering how it is that I got to this spot, this window ledge in the Newark Airport terminal. Yes? Well, it is a long story, but if you want, you can read on to find out.
Monday:
My Monday was much like many others that I have had this past summer... I had a lot to do and seemingly no inclination to actually do it. I spent a good hour at a local animal shelter playing with a particularly portly feline named Lawrence. As I sat with Lawrence, I thought about all of the things that I needed to do still: pack, get my immigration paperwork together, pack, buy the last remaining items that I still lacked, pack. Surprisingly enough, these are all of the things that about three months ago I had already been planning and making lists as to not forget anything, yet, three days before leaving I was completely unable to do any of it! Why? I think those emotions we talked about earlier were starting to creep up on me. Every time I went near my empty suitcase, lying open in wait in the center of my bedroom, I felt my stomach drop like a bowling ball, so like every grown adult, I walked briskly out of my room and shut the door behind.
Tuesday:
Here is where my parents became distressed at the sight of my empty suitcase and still incomplete immigration paperwork folder. But no worries, I totally had it all under control, it would all be fine. I set out (with a resolution to pack and finish gathering my paperwork that very afternoon) to the couch where I proceeded to fill out an adoption form for Lawrence, who my parents said I couldn't adopt until May at the earliest. Yes, I was fully capable of doing paperwork to adopt a cat that I can't actually adopt until a time about nine months in the future, but packing a suitcase and organizing paperwork was too difficult. At any rate, I did in fact get my paperwork together. It took a lot of prompting, but it got done! After that baby step I finally felt ready to... well... get ready. So, I took the plunge and added my father on Skype. Now, I was really ready to go: paperwork in place, communication waves open and working, all I needed was a change of clothes!
Wednesday:
With a feverish delight, I swept around my room and closet, picking up any and all clothing within reach, and dumped it all in my suitcase. Packing and re-packing and re-re-packing until I had a mountain of clean and dirty clothes sticking out of the gaping mouth of my open suitcase... I thought it looked rather like a clothing K-2.
Earlier Today:
For those of you who know me, you know as a girl who always has a bun (probably with pens or pencils sticking out of it). My hair is always up. It is in the "upright and stowed position" as to avoid any mishaps due to frizz, and general excessiveness. So, I figured, hey, I'm off to a new school, in a new country, where no one knows me... might as well fix the hair situation! Bright and early this morning I got up, got in my car and drove to my haircut appointment. Now, of all of the tasks I had in the last few days, this was the single most dreaded, anticipated moment of them all. It overshadowed my moment here, at the terminal (before I actually got here, you know, in the terminal)! After a few complaints and a lot of discussion over my aversion to curling and flattening irons, my stylist came up with the final result. Finally, after a M*A*S*H marathon and a fare-thee-well to my dog, I was ready to set off for the airport!
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