*This post was started last Friday and continued today*
Today I left home for the last time for several months. I probably would've been more sad about it if I hadn't been focusing on whether or not I would actually be able to get to the airport and if the flight would leave today. Starting early this morning, Boston got hit with another big storm. Normally, this wouldn't matter to me except for the obligatory griping about having to shovel the driveway. Today, however, this storm was a potential harbinger of doom. As it is, the storm almost led me to throw out my back.
I didn't start actively packing until yesterday, mostly due to my confidence that I've been on enough trips that I can pack pretty fast, but I thin at least some of it was a reluctance to admit to myself that I was leaving so soon. Anyway, after a few days of buying some last minute stuff and getting gifts for my host family (I finally found out about them!--more to follow) I began packing. First I laid out everything I wanted to bring in piles on my floor, then proceeded to stuff them into my bag. I considered using my duffel bag that I've had for year, but after a little more consideration, I opted for my old hockey bag (with a dryer sheet in there, it doesn't smell like hockey gear at all). It's a little bigger than the duffel and a bit stiffer too, which will be good if I use it as a dresser while abroad.
The major downside of this decision is that the bag has no wheels; not that the duffel did either, but it'd be nice to not have to carry a bag that weighs almost half as much as I do on my back. Which leads me to how the storm almost gave me a hernia.
*written today:*
In order to get down the street to a place where a cab could pick us up my mom and I had to get all the bags to our neighbor's house at the end of the street. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but with snow on top of ice and a bag that weighed almost 50 lbs, it was quite a challenge to go the 200 yards to the end of the street. Once we got there (with a lot of effort on my part) we stood in the entryway of the neighbor's house waiting for the cab for over an hour. It turns out that the first one didn't get sent, so we were a bit worried about making it to the airport on time.
As it happened, we needn't have worried. We got to the airport the recommended 1.5 hours ahead and actually were able to get onto an earlier flight (being among the few brave enough to face the weather) and got to DC an hour ahead of schedule.
I spent the next few days hanging out at my aunt and uncle's house and visiting my grandparents, which I really enjoyed. I often feel like I don't get to see them enough.
Not much has happened since arriving at the ACTR hotel. I'm getting more and more anxious, but that's normal. I'm also trying desperately to convince myself that the horror stories they tell us won't happen. (No, relatives, I won't tell you the worst of them)
The people I've met who're on the program seem nice, though I don't think any of them will be living in the same area of the city as me. I suppose that's to be expected, but it'd be nice to have someone to walk home with in Peter. Oh, also: there will be 19 of us in Peter including the academic year students (I think there are 10 or 11 semester kids). That's all the news from here for now, currently hanging out in a starbucks near the hotel for their free internet :)
Oh, and if anyone's actually reading this, please feel free to leave comments or ask questions! Пока и до встречи!
