In a week from tomorrow, I will be leaving for France.
In a week from tomorrow, I will be flying across an ocean for the first time.
In a week from tomorrow, I will cross six time zones.
In a week from tomorrow, I will be speaking French.
In a week from tomorrow, I will be leaving the continent for the first time in my life.
In a week from tomorrow, I will have to say goodbye to my friends, my family, and my cats.

You get the picture.

I have been waiting for a week from tomorrow for months. I have had a countdown on my dashboard since day 98 or something ridiculous like that, and now it's down to 8. A week from tomorrow.

I can't say that I'm not scared, of course. Of course it will be scary to fly across an ocean, and to leave my home country, and to pet my cats goodbye. But fear is not the biggest emotion I feel right now.

Instead I feel excited, and basically every word my thesaurus could come up with to parallel the same sentiment. I will probably want a good American hamburger in a months time, and I might want some respite from speaking constant French, but I will deal with all of that when it comes.

Anyhow, as I am still in the United States (for 8 more days), I am totally allowed to be slightly sentimental (plus, I would really like to figure out how to post pictures on my blog, as I have not gotten around to figuring it out yet.

There will be giant fields of lavender in Provence, but there is nothing like the weed-infested, cat-tail overrun "wheat" field behind my house. It looks wonderful when the sun shines.


I guess the view down my road isn't exactly awe-inspiring, but it is a good spot to sit and watch the sunset.


In the last seven months, I have spent entirely too much time in this exact spot. The lawyer lamp makes for wonderful ambiance.


It gives me a little solace to know that even in France, I will have my trusty laptop (Wilhelm), a good pencil, and of course, books. Unfortunately, the books will be written in French, but I will get over that.


I can't say I will miss Jeff, exactly, but I will miss the random conversations that have taken place in that noisy, crappy, smelly dining hall.


In a week from tomorrow, I will be leaving for France. It is not yet a week from tomorrow, which means I still have to take and pass my exams, and write a few papers.

In the best interests of my academic standing, I should get to studying.

Tata for now.

- Rach.