Six hours till lift off

Scared, anxious, nervous, excited. These are feelings that are going through me right now at almost three in the morning.

The goodbyes started yesterday when I had lunch with one of my best friends Kathy. I'm going to miss her so much and I'm going to miss my annual once-a-semester trip to Penn State.

I said goodbye to Kory's mom tonight and when I thought she was going to cry I got teary eyed. I think it finally hit me that this is actually happening. In six hours I will be sitting on a plane that will take me to Philly and then I will sit and wait eight hours until another will take me to another continent. That thought scares me.

As I was driving home from Kory's house tonight I realized it would be the last time until May that I would make that drive. Crazy, right?

Gina and Paige came over and relaxed with me while I perused through my mess of a room to find things I thought I may need.

Note to self: instead of half-packing a few days before I leave, just finish the whole thing. I leave for the airport in three hours. Am I all finished packing? No. I think I have weighed my luggage three times and still have to reorganized things. Shenanigans.

Saying goodbye to Paige and Gina was hard. They are two of my best friends and I am going to miss them so so much. It's not like I'm just going an hour or two away from them this time. I surprised myself when I didn't cry while saying goodbye to them. Don't get me wrong, I was very upset, but I think it was how I reacted to not break down for the rest of the night.

My mama and family were adorable and bought me a "Good Luck" cake that we had as a surprise.

In four hours I have to say goodbye to my family. It's going to take a lot not to cry. I'm getting teary eyed right now thinking about it. My mama is my best friend. I talk to her at least once a day, so this is going to be new territory for the both of us. She's an amazing woman and I'm so glad she's my mother and I'm going to miss her so much. Saying goodbye to Ali and Jonathan is going to be hard because I love them so much too and I'm going to miss just being able to text them whenever I want to.

And in four hours I have to say goodbye to Kory. I'm not looking forward to this. He's my best friend, my everything and the fact I can't talk to him whenever I want is going to drive me nuts. I remember sitting out on the pier on his pond a year and a half ago getting to know each other. I told him how I planned on studying abroad in a year and a half. When we talked about it, it seemed so far away. Now it's only a few hours away. Crazy how fast time goes. I want it to go fast so I can see him again, and at the same time I want it to go slow because I've been looking forward to this since my sophomore year of high school when I made the decision to start saving up.

Kory, if you are reading this, I love you with all my heart and I cannot wait to see you again, besides through a computer screen.

So after all of the goodbyes, I will embark on a new life trip — one that I will never forget.

If I seemed scattered brained in this post, it's because it's 3 AM and I'm running on four hours sleep. I'm debating on just staying up at this point. Who knows.

Goodbyes and hellos

Last night was the student media banquet, and it was absolutely amazing. It was fun and sad at the same time. Seeing all of my friends, co-workers and I having a blast made me realize how much I'm really going to miss everyone next semester. It's going to be so weird not being around these people for the next few months, and it's even weirder to think that I won't see some of them after this week because they either graduate in December or in May.

Last night showed me after we all worked our butts off and often times felt like we were going to die from over-working ourselves, we can still have a good time. I'm going to miss everyone, but a new adventure is awaiting me. In less than a month I will be on new soil.

After all of the hugs last night and saying some of my last goodbyes, it finally started hitting me, but I'm ready. I am so ready for this new adventure in my life to start. I finally get to see the world and I've never been more excited. So January, please get here faster. I can't wait.

Almost a month to go

It's a random Tuesday night, the week before finals, and I'm sitting on my extremely comfortable bed trying to picture myself in Italy. Here's the odd thing: I can't.

Over the past few months you would think I would be constantly thinking about leaving and being anxious and excited, but that's not the case. Don't get me wrong, I am very thrilled and very much looking forward to this experience I'm about to take on, but I haven't given it much thought.

I remember sophomore year of high school beginning to look into colleges on those websites where you check marked what activities and clubs you wanted your "dream" school to have. On every search I always made sure they had a study abroad program. If the school didn't have the option, I knocked it to the bottom of my list.

While most people my age in high school were saving up for cars or material things, I put my money into my savings account, knowing it would go to good use when I would study abroad. And boy am I glad I did that!

Lone behold, here I am with a month and two days left until I step foot onto that airplane which will take me away from my comfort zone.

Maybe it's the fact I've been so consumed with writing articles for my RPA class and being an editor this semester that I haven't given it much thought.

Tonight as I sit back and think about being oversees I get the butterflies. This is something I've wanted for so long and it's finally happening.