Tomorrow we leave. Tomorrow we begin to travel far away from home and to be completely honest - I'm not sure if I'm ready or not. As I'm preparing for this trip, I find myself feeling multiple emotions, fearing to forget to pack something important or having some in-explainable reason for not being able to go. The only other country I've been to is Ecuador and even then I don't really consider this traveling out of the country. Ecuador is second home to my family, having been there multiple times as a child and a teen have made it normal. Not scary. Not scary like flying across the country to a world whose customs and values are different then my own. Yet, I'm excited! How can I not be? I'm excited to learn a new language, that's not English or Spanish, I'm excited to learn about another culture that isn't Western or Latin, but most importantly, I'm excited to make new friends and to explore a location I never thought I could. I know these mixed emotions make it complicated to understand me, but traveling far away, to a culture that I have very limited information about, is frightening but also a burst of Adrenaline.
My biggest fear for this trip is being home sick. I won't lie. I love my family, I'm close to them. I live in a house of six, what do you expect? This is why I don't consider going to Ecuador a trip but rather visiting another home, because not only do I have family there, I have family coming with me. Still, I'm hoping to grow close to my study-abroad-mates! Hoping they'll be my key to missing home a bit less and to focus on my traveling experience a bit more!
I'm sure I'm going to pull through, because I'm too excited not to. To excited to learn their different language, their culture, their values, and to learn about the world they live in. Interested in norms that have been maintained throughout thousands of years, a country that has had it's ups and downs, and whose image on the media could have or not have been exaggerated. I want to learn about this country and it's people, so why not live there for a few days 😁
