Bye...For Now

After jamming to Toto’s “Africa” with Brad, I think it has finally set in that I’m leaving for Madagascar…IN FOUR DAYS. In fact, a week from now, I will have just spent my first night in Madagascar, after a long three days of travel. Monday I have two flights to get to staging, then after orientation and a few introductory sessions we drive to NY, fly (for 15.5 hours) to S. Africa, and then finally over to the island. That’s a lot of miles to travel in three days…

So since July 11th is getting so close, I’ve been cramming in lots of things that I won’t get to do for two years, like…

…seeing all my cousins in Florida!

….visiting Denison friends in Chi-town

…sitting on my couch with my laptop, charging my ipod and downloading books for my kindle, all while drinking a glass of water straight from the tap

…napping in a hammock looking out at Torch Lake

…and embarking on the food tour of EL including stops at Altus, Sansu, Georgios, Jimmy Johns, Chipotle, and of course Wendys

The next four days are going to entail a lot of errands and packing. Two of my (not so) favorite things. Luckily I can drag Brad around with me and have him impart valuable PC knowledge to me while I try to figure out how to pack for two years. If I take PC’s advice, I should only pack about four outfits, which is about half as much as I usually pack for a weekend, so this should be interesting! Oh well, I’ll figure that out tomorrow when I’m sitting in front of my suitcase.

After an entire year of the application process, its finally real! Applying last summer, receiving my nomination in August, going through the medical and legal review, and then finally getting my final interview and placement in May…it has been a long process and I’m ready to get started! So goodbye Michigan, goodbye friends and family, goodbye Romeo, and goodbye hot showers, cell phone and regular internet access. Hello Madagascar…(in a week).