Well, today marks two days before I leave for 10 months in Chile! In a lot of ways I think it has yet to really hit me, and in some ways it feels more real than ever.
I wish I felt a little more excited, but honestly I'm so nervous I can't really feel anything else. I know very, very little about this country, and almost less about what exactly my day-to-day life will entail. I'm sitting in my bedroom with about 20 shirts folded and ready to be packed, but nothing else is even remotely close to being ready to go. How do you pack for a year abroad anyway? My googling efforts haven't garnered any promising results.
I'm really sad to leave my friends and family here. My parents and sister most of all (also, my dog. I love that stinker). The hardest part about leaving is that I know I won't be living here again, at least for a long time. This trip to Chile marks the beginning of what I hope to be a long, long time traveling, and probably not coming back to live in Chicago. And while that is something I've desperately dreamed of, missing people is something I certainly underestimated, and it's breaking my heart a little. Always trying to turn everything to something positive, I guess I realize how lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.
Overall I suppose I'm just not feeling ready. But as the great Lemony Snicket once said, "If we wait until we are ready, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives."
And so, I say to heck with being ready. Something really exciting is waiting for me in Chile, and I don't want to wait and wonder for the rest of my life!
Hasta pronto, Santiago!
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