Wednesday, January 14, 2009

My (Less Than) Two Weeks Notice

Today is January 14th. I leave the country from Atlanta (what a nice place to have my last sight of the USA!) on January 27th. If you can't do the math (I'm looking at you, Alisa. I kid because I care!), that means I now have less than 2 weeks before I depart for Siena, Italy. There are, of course, a lot of things rushing through my head at this point. What will it be like? Will I be able to navigate the airports and bus stations on my way there? Will I forget to back something drastically important, like my flight information or shoes? (the answer to the last question is definitely yes, but the terror is in not knowing exactly what I'm going to forget).

Still, though, I'm very excited, and today, as I start to pack, there is that sort of feeling that it's so close. Until a few days ago, I hadn't really thought of it as something coming. Sure, I knew of it, but I had never actually realized that, yes, in less than two weeks -- less than the time it takes to order something from the internet and have it shipped to your house -- I would be on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean, probably watching some heartwarming family movie and munching on airline pretzels, then getting off in Rome, the road to which all roads lead, before I take the long bus ride to Siena.

Last weekend I visited my friends back on Vandy campus for a few days. When I got there, most were out at classes, out at lunch, or out because they hadn't gotten out of bed yet. I really do have lazy friends. Still, it was a lot of fun. We did the usual guy things. We played video games, we watched TV, we played poker. Overall, it was very relaxing and fun. I felt bad for Mike after he got food poisoning from some bad mayonnaise (although, to bounce off of that, is there really such a thing as good mayonnaise?), so hopefully he's feeling better by now. Another thing I'll say is that I definitely appreciate meal plan and meal money a lot more now, given that I spent a good $50 on meals during the 2.5 days I was there (really, 10 dollars for mediocre chicken fingers and fries? An atrocity, I say.). It was also a nice way to end the weekend, my losing five dollars playing buy-in poker (Just be glad I'm not the gambling type, or I'd have lost ten). At any rate, I'll be heading back to Nashville in two weekends to visit my buds one last time before I head out, so I'll see them then. Next time I'll head up, I'll bring a camera so I can take some pictures.

I may write again before I leave, if I have anything to write about. Until then, see you later.

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