Hello, Goodbye

When I next wake up, I’ll be on my way to the East Coast. I’ve been on a study trip to the East Coast before, but as tonight has approached, I’m finding it less and less plausible that my Washington, D.C. trip will even come close to how much I will learn here. My expectations are extraordinarily high and my heart rate is even higher. If it was possible to have a mental heart attack (in a good way) from excitement, I’m sure I would have had six by now. I thought I was fully packed and ready for tomorrow, but it turned out I had only set out shoes and jeans to put on in the morning. Aside from today’s hasty packing (come on, Mom, how many pillowcases can one person need?) I’ve been doing research on the colleges I’ll visit and reading last year’s Women and Leadership blogs. The meeting that Ms. Neal organized for the Women and Leadership group to help us get to know each other has really helped calm my nerves. I know I’m very lucky to be in a group with so many wonderful people.

I hate to think that I’m leaving my family for so long. For weeks, the best contact I’ll have with my parents, my brother, and my best friend will be though emails, phone calls, and, of course, this blog. Not to mention that I won’t be able to pet my big, fluffy dog for just as long. I spent my last few hours awake at home watching old episodes of The Office with my brother. Even though I’ll be leaving tonight, my mom still made me wake up early (7:30?!? It’s ridiculous!) to go to volleyball conditioning, which was exhausting. Even though I’m thrilled to leave so soon, I’m tired enough that I won’t have trouble sleeping. My family has been giving me dinner privileges since I’ll be gone, which means I got to have a milkshake from Fat Apple’s and my brother sprinted three miles to hand-deliver tacos to me (he told me to write that, it was actually a half-mile drive).

I know that the minute I leave, I’ll miss everything about home, but I’m sure that once I’m on the East Coast, I’ll be so absorbed by my surroundings that homesickness won’t be a problem. Tomorrow is only hours away, and I can’t wait for it to come sooner.