God I hope I don't lost my passport.

In just about four hours, at 4 AM, I will wake up and be on my way to China. I have spent the past three days doing what I like to call "strategic packing." I don't want to bring too much, but I don't want to find out I don't have enough. I have a limit of two suitcases at 70 pounds each, which is quite a load, but I don't really know if I'll have space for that amount of stuff, as I anticipate living in a sardine tin. So after three arduous days of analyzing whether this sweater will be better than that one, I am proud to say that my suitcases weigh 37 pounds and 43 pounds. Both of them still have ample room left.

For me, the hardest thing about travel, especially international travel, is that there's just so much to keep track of. Money, passport, traveler's checks, plane tickets. It's an anxious nightmare in my head. Not to mention when the plane makes a funny sound and I think we're going to crash. (Incidentally, if my plane should crash into the Pacific, please eat Ethiopian food at my wake.) --I'm sorry, was that morbid? Just pretend I'm on "Lost." Or, even better, finally achieving my life-long dream of being on "Survivor."

I know this sounds cliche, but I really can't believe that I'm leaving tomorrow. This whole 'semester abroad' thing has seemed so abstract and theoretical that it kind of seemed like it would all just happen in my head. Everyone keeps telling me to have a good time, and I know I will, but it's likely that I won't even know I'm having a great time until the end (because that's how it always goes).

Along the way, I anticipate rather extreme highs and lows. I may post one day on my blog about how I just want to go home. And I'll mean it. But I also know that that feeling will go away in a few hours or days. I have a feeling that overall, this will be one of the best decisions and experiences of my life. I hope I'm right.

Enough of that boring stuff. I can't wait to start updating with the exciting stuff. I just gotta get through about 30 hours of flying first.