Three days

The newly-arrived 2008 is undoubtedly going to be an exciting year. My semester abroad, which for so long has loomed as some abstract excitement for the future, has nearly arrived. I can't say that I'm prepared. On Friday night, my best friends of ten years are driving me up to Indianapolis for a last supper of sorts, actually a nice dinner at Palomino, then dropping me off at the Holiday Inn Express at the airport. Only the best for me, it's sure to be a classy night personified by the low rumble of the hallway ice machine.

After what I'm sure will be a less-than satisfying sleep, I'm getting up at some ungodly hour to go to the airport for a 7:45AM flight to Los Angeles. Why I have to fly out so early, only to arrive in LA for a 14 hour layover, is beyond me, but I'm trying not to dwell. At 1:30AM, EST, our plane leaves from LA to Fiji. Jay, our program leader, warns that the Fijian airline, Air Pacific, makes a habit of playing perpetual tropical tunes on board. It may be a long night. Many, many, many hours later, we'll arrive in Fiji, then it's on to Auckland where we'll stop to rest for a night.

I haven't allowed myself to calculate how many hours of travel this turns out to be, and with the jet-lag that will accompany an 18-hour time change, I'm sure it won't matter all that much. I'll work my way through the rest of the itinerary as it comes up, but it promises to be a busy semester.

I haven't finished packing and I can't what outfit to wear on the plane (this is a bigger deal than it seems, as it will turn out to be one of the few outfits I'll be equipped with for the semester). Between all of the gear required for our wilderness adventures, and other necessary supplies, luggage space is a limited commodity and packing, which has never been my favorite pastime, is proving to be particularly stressful.

All of these little struggles are defining the moment I'm in right now, I'm ready to just be there so that I can let them go. I have never been much of a journal writer, and I'm certainly no "blogger", but this documentation of my travels is something that I've promised people, and myself. Two years ago, my New Year's Resolution was to drink more water. Last year it was to floss regularly. This year, I'm resolving to give this blog a try. If I don't feel like I'm getting anything out of it, I will undoubtedly abandon it, but for the time being, I'll give it a whirl.

After all, everything else is about to change, why should this be any different?