AH.

Well the time has officially come! I leave in less than a day and I am still getting stupid last-minute things together. I have completed (well... almost) packing and although my suitcases are over the weight limit, I managed to get everything I needed in them (I hope). I don't think that they should include the weight of the actual suitcase in with the weight of everything else that you have brought; otherwise I would be under the limit by about 7lbs. How anyone would manage to regulate this is beyond me but, personally, it is a good idea for all of those people who have to pack for 4 months at a time...

I have debated, especially this week, whether preparing for a trip like this is good for my health. i had to get far too many shots to be good for anyone and the stress everything has caused me has not been helpful in any way what-so-ever! I think that it is time for me to go, and be done with it all, and just have to figure out what to do without the things I forgot. The combination of packing, making sure I have copies of every single piece of paper I bring and getting all the other things set up that I need to better be well worth it once I get there.

I am pretty sure there are many people that I didn't get to see before I left, and I only hope they will enjoy the post card I send them sooo much that they cannot possibly stay mad at me :). My family has started to lose all ability to reason and I am pretty sure that it will be a tear fest at the air port. It seems to be very apparent, even to our dog that something is up and I will not be here for a while, but I feel as though until I get to NY and meet up with my fellow "sengalian-wanna-be students" it won't thoroughly sink in how awesome this is going to be, and how far away from everything that is norm I will actually be. A little change is in order fo me though and I can't help but feel that this is part of what I need to grow as a person. I do love my dad dearly, but I have to leave the boarders of Texas at some point!

I am a little worried about the whole flying situation now that it is getting closer, especially since I am a bit claustrophobic and don't really enjoy flying at all... I know that there isn't really an efficient alternative to flying, but geeze, couldn't someone think of something???