Hello Goodbye

It's a few days before the big departure date, and it still hasn't hit me that I'm about to leave the good ol' U.S. of A. for a long long looong time.  What am I going to miss about America?  Truth is, I'm not too worried about it because even though there are things about home I'm going to miss, for every one aspect of America that I'll leave behind, I know I'll discover at least two new perks that I wouldn't have otherwise experienced along the way.

For example, I know I'm dearly going to miss automatic cars that drive on the right side of the road.  But, to look on the bright side, in South Africa I'll not only get to improve my motion-sickness tolerance to rival that of a jet fighter pilot, but my trip will have an added element of risky adventure when I accidentally look the wrong way for traffic while crossing the street.  I need to be more daring anyway.  Just because something isn't familiar, doesn't mean that it's any worse than what I'm used to- or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

Now that writing this blog has got me thinking about it, I suppose it's unavoidable that in a day or two I'll enter that mental phase that creeps up on you before you have to say goodbye to something or someone, where you start to think in terms of "lasts."  As in "this is the third-to-last time I'm going to brush my teeth at this sink," or "this is the last time I'm going to help my cousin with his math homework", or my personal tragedy, "this is the last time I'm going to get to sit on this sofa and watch Toddlers and Tiaras while browsing facebook" (yes, that's me).   I mean, it's no fun to walk around with a depressing commentary bouncing around one's head, but maybe I'll have a step-up on the "last" syndrome anyway, because I'm expecting it.  Who knows...I'll keep you posted.

Regardless of the goodbyes I'll be saying in the next few days, there's always the hope of hellos on the horizon.  Where there's a goodbye to soft, gooey chocolate chip cookies (no, they don't have these in South Africa, and when I introduce people to them, they all like them crispy) there's a hello to rusks.  Goodbye dryer, hello sun-kissed clothes.  Goodbye stupid stupid squirrels, hello pesky pesky monkeys.  Goodbye football, hello rugby.  Goodbye dollars, hello rands.  Goodbye crappy American chocolate, hello delicious BarOne's, PS's, Crunchies, and Smarties (see, I bet you've never heard of these...you're missing out!)  Goodbye Spanish, hello Afrikaans.  Goodbye winter, hello summer!  That one I'm excited about.  Goodbye texting, hello emailing.  That one, not so excited about.  The best one of all: goodbye grad school applications, hello vacation!

My hope is that this blog will be a good way for my friends and family to keep up to date with what's going on in my life during my travels.  I can't promise that my day-to-day life is always going to be interesting, but I'll try my best to give you a good look into what it's like to be a 22-year-old recent college graduate who's embarking on a (hopefully) life-changing journey for 7 months, after being in school for a short 17 years.

As for me, I think after all of this dwelling and introspection, it's time for a healthy dose of Real Housewives.  I won't say goodbye. 

P.S. A big thanks to the wonderful Alex Murphy for coming up with the name for this blog...ingenious!