My Last Week Home

Brownie points for whoever can guess where the inspiration for my blog title came from!

Peter Pan! (It's what he tells the Darling children when they are learning how to fly.)

You should have known it would be from a Disney movie. I just thought I should let you know, in case I get accused of not citing my sources. Let the record show I have notified my readers of my insistence on relating everything of significance in my life to a scene from a Disney movie.

My original plan for this blog was to write the very first entry yesterday so I would be able to go on and on about how in a week from that day (and possibly at that very moment), I would be on the plane to Dublin (well, on the plane to San Fransisco and then to Philadelphia and then to Dublin) however creating my blog took HOURS. Literally. The About Me section especially. But only because I wanted to make a good impression on you, my dear readers, my raison d'être. (That was 'reason to be' for those of you who don't speak French. I don't speak French either, but I happen to hang out with a crazy number of people who do. Something was bound to stick.) So now I can only reflect on the fact that I have one week of summer left before leaving home and the country for the longest extended period of time ever. As if that wasn't enough.

One week left. This is my designated Packing Week, and as of now, I have my carry-on, three space bags (you know, those bags that you can vacuum out the air), and my biggest suitcase on my bedroom floor. There isn't anything in them as of yet, but they are open! My plan of action  is to throw things I want to take with me and then when my bags become minature Staten Islands, I'll consolidate (or recycle, if I really want to follow through with this landfill reference). I used to like packing, and it's really not that bad if I give myself plenty of time, but packing to go to and from school has semi-cured this particular manifestation of my neat-freak personality. Packing for a sleepover at a friend's house? WHOOOOO!!!! Let's PACK!!! Packing to go to Ireland? Ummmm, I'll do it tomorrow, Mom, I promise. So I hope that by giving myself a week, I will not only feel less stressed about the whole situation, I will also be infinitely more prepared. Double-checking and whatnot.

I'm feeling nervous and anxious about going. The distance is what scares me the most, I think. Having to go through extra hoops just to talk to my family. Hoping I didn't make a mistake in wanting to leave for a whole three and a half months. Hating all of this second-guessing. I will probably be glad when the plane takes off because then I know I can't go back. I'm also not looking forward to the what is it? Hold on while I look it up. The Irritation/Hostility phase of culture shock. The time during your stay, according to Scripps' Study Abroad A to Z Handbook, after your initial excitement and curiousity has waned, and you become homesick. Thanks, but no thanks. But think of all of the things you are going to see and experience and the places you will go, I'm sure you're thinking to yourself and possibly shouting at the computer in hopes that I will hear and believe you. And you are right. So right. This is going to be one of the most amazing semesters of my college career. I am blessed to have this opportunity, and I am so blessed to have friends and family like you!

love always!

This post is dedicated to Miss Lillian Martin - because she asked me to. And because she's sitting right next to me and will take my computer away if I don't.