The Long-Expected Moment

So here I am, on the "eve of my departure", as they say. The entire process of actually packing mercifully took only around an hour. Everything fit, with some room to spare, and my suitcase (Little Blue, I have named it) that will serve as my checked baggage is far below the 50 lb. max. Success!!

These past few days have been a bit hectic, lots of dashing around hither and thither, collecting last-minute necessities like an umbrella and Zyrtec. And I can't even begin to describe my feelings right now (or rather, I can, because I'm about to). I'm incredibly excited, of course, and a bit nervous, of course, but also just in a state of bewildering anticipation. Because, I know that I'm about to embark on, perhaps, the greatest adventure thus far in my life, and I know that I will absolutely love it and all that, but since it's something that I've never experienced before (like I mentioned before, even flying in an airplane is completely new to me), I don't have anything really to draw from to fuel my imagination of what it will be like. And that, I think, is absolutely beautiful. It's not often that we're given opportunities like this, where we're forced out of our comfort zones into something completely new to us. I'm a fairly schedule-oriented person, and I like to know ahead of time what something's going to be like, and that's mostly how our world is set up. But in cases like these, we just have to go with the flow, and accept our ignorance and bewilderment, and just live in the moment, and be open to, and enjoy the experience. Many people have asked me if I'm studying abroad in a subject that relates back to my major, but obviously that's not the case. I'll be studying something that I enjoy and that holds great interest for me, but it's not required for my Psychology major. Not by a long shot. It's the experience. That's why I'm studying abroad. (That, and a few other reasons, but that's the major one.)

So, details. My plane from St. Louis to Chicago departs at 1:50 tomorrow afternoon, and my plane from O'Hare to Heathrow departs at 5:15 pm, so, if you think of it, a prayer or two wouldn't go amiss.  God willing, I will arrive in London at 6:50 in the morning on Saturday (although that will be more like 1am in these parts). I will not be blogging tomorrow, but expect something on Saturday, and every day thereafter. Until then, this sums it all up rather nicely...

...I'm not planning on oversleeping, though.