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The time has come.  The time where I can no longer avoid packing, where I can no longer brush off this journey as "no big deal" and when I finally have to realize why everyone looks at me so doe-eyed when I tell them of my upcoming adventure.

Yes, I'm moving abroad for 27 months to a developing country and leaving all I know behind (including language) and starting a new life.  I wish I could concisely put down into words how I feel, but the second I start to explain one feeling, by the time I end the sentence with a period, an entirely different feeling is knocking at my emotional door.

So forget about appeasing the 2 (if that) readers I have with material they want to know, instead I'm using this entry as a way to explain how I feel.  That is what most blogs are about now anyway...

1.  Excited:  I'm freakin excited.  Peace Corps was first introduced in my journal on April 14, 1999.  I had just returned from piano lessons with Mrs. Simon who doubled as my life coach.  She was a Foreign Service Officer in her previous life and encouraged me to look into programs with the government.  I came home that day and wrote in my journal, "I think I will join the Peace Corps one day." (to be fair, at 12, I wrote Peace Core.)  So now, 12 years later, I am finally there.  So yea, I'm freakin excited.  How many people actually go through with what they were dreaming of doing at 12?

2.  Nervous: As with any major change, I'm nervous things won't exactly go the way I'd like.  Luckily, I'm okay with that.  I'm pretty okay with things going wildly not how I picture and going along for the ride.

3.  Sad: My family and friends are fantastic.  I am leaving when my relationships with my family and friends are the best they have ever been.  It's both hard to leave when things are so good, and also amazing that I'm leaving on such a good note with so many people.

4.  Annoyed: Not a huge emotion, but packing for 2 years is annoying.  There is nothing rewarding about buying reusable batteries, solar power chargers and bug huts (other than I'm being extremely green).  And while I am grateful to those who want to know what the peace corps is about, how long I'll be gone, where Mali is, I'm ready for it to finally happen and have my family start to explain to people where I am instead of me always saying where I will be.

5. Anxious:  I'm anxious to see how my relationships will change while I am away.  As mentioned, I have a great network of support, but you never quite know what will change until you are halfway across the world with limited contact.  It's exciting to see how my relationships will change and grow and how each will look upon my return in 2014.

This summer has been unbelievable.  Quite literally, I still can't believe that some things actually happened.  I've endured a great loss, enjoyed many laughs with my friends and family and came out of this entire "Funemployment Summer 2011" with a great appreciation for everyone that has been there.

So as I embark on this journey, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way. (this is starting to sound like a bat mitzvah speech, no?)

Oh and go badgers.  #RussellWilsonHeisman