Pre-Trip Jitters and Such

One week from today I leave for France. It doesn't seem real that I will be experiencing probably the most exciting event in my life thus far in only seven days. That is a dramatic statement, and I am fully aware that millions of other people have also done what I am about to do, but that's the essence of the human experience isn't it? We think our situations are so incredibly unique when so many others have been through it, but it's unique to us, and that's all that really matters.

This post is coming at you at 1:07 am Chicago time, courtesy of my whacked out sleep pattern. I get tired at midnight, go to bed and lay there for an hour and then get up and do something. Stay up til 2 am, sleep til 10, and repeat. It's ridiculous. I have zero will power to get up at 8 to put the whole thing right again, and I figure it's just going to get jacked up when we land in Pau anyways.

Pau. Pronounced po. Like the popo gunna come git you.

Southwest corner of France, where French and Spanish cultures are wonderfully mixed. The two countries are roughly divided by The Pyrenees Mountains, which are visible from Pau. 

http://freedoniapost.com/tag/mountains/

Let's make some lists here.

Things I'm Most Excited About:

 - Meeting people (and my host family!)

- Taking pictures/the sights

- Just plain traveling

- THE FOOD (and beverages)  :)

- being in a completely different culture

- To be out of my house/my town/Illinois/the US

Things I'm Most Nervous About

- being accidentally offensive 

- my horrible accent while speaking French

- SPEAKING FRENCH

- numbers in French (they're simply horrid) 

- getting lost (although this can be fun, it can also be dangerous) 

- getting mugged

- getting sick

- getting stuck next to a really fat, smelly man for the 8.5 hr flight to Paris

Though it is not proved by the lists, the excitement does in fact out weight the fear at this point. Thinking about everything I need beforehand makes me want to skip that part and just get to Pau. My mom and I are making a list tomorrow. Packing will be interesting. 

This trip is such a blessing though. I have literally been praying for two years for the ability to travel, and had you asked me what I thought I would be doing this summer, I would have told you that I'd be working. God makes me laugh when He proves to me how well he knows me. I thought I would have a month at home, but it ended up being two weeks. I was a little bummed at first, but now I see that a month at home would not particularly benefit my relationship with my family. 

I have decided to find a book of French poetry when I get over there and to translate it. It'll be good practice.

I am also planning on writing a play. I've wanted to for a while. It's going to be about a professor falling in love with a student. SCANDAL!