days < 30 -- repacking

piece of advice for future outbound students #4:

be prepared to leave at any time. you never know what might happen.

i'm still not absolutely sure when i'm leaving. it could be anywhere from the first to the ninth of August, because my travel agency hasn't given me a schedule yet.

that said, they also haven't given me my visa yet...
and they have yet to send my passport back...
...so i may not be leaving on time after all...

i'm hoping everything goes well, and i trust the travel agency. so we'll see!

things that have happened in the past 10 days:

• finally, i got to visit the rotary club of tillamook! in a rather roundabout way, they helped to make my exchange possible. I was an alternate (see this post to know what that means), and by sponsoring an inbound they provided an extra outbound slot. so it was wonderful to meet the rotarians there, and they were all super nice :)
• family retreat which involved murky ponds, ridiculously fast slides, bananagrams, and sandblasting. it was fun to make memories, and somehow everything was different because i know that i'm leaving. i'm not sure if that makes sense or not.
• still attempting to read books in german (see this post).
• also still attempting to stuff all my shoes in one suitcase. i never realized how many pairs of shoes i own until i tried to pack them. 
• shoes are hard to pack. did you know that?

the end.

i'm not ready

the most common question i get now:
"are you ready?"

and normally i smile and say yes, sure, absolutely, thrilled, etc.
but i thought about it and i realized that no, i'm not.

it freaks me out to think that i will be getting on a plane and living without my family and friends here for a year. i feel too young and too inexperienced and too whatever to possibly be ready.

but every time i've ever felt scared and worried and stressed about something that i know i want to do, i've felt unready. and somehow by the time i am doing it, i am ready. i'm not sure what happens inside when i become ready... there's only the fact  that when the moment of truth comes, i am. and i trust myself to know when i will be.

so no, i'm not ready.

but you know what?

i will be.

june's lovely links

note: again, I've been gone for a couple weeks so some of these posts are severely overdue. sorry about that... anyway, I am doing my best to catch up and post (relatively) on time. :)

random things I've been reading that are somewhat travel related:

Fluent In 3 Months encourages you to make mistakes while learning languages... i have to admit that this is one of the hardest things for me to do, although i'm sure i'll make plenty of mistakes in Switzerland.
on another note, they also happen to have funny random posts about travel and habits picked up in other countries. some of the habits are hilarious.

this post from The Great Affair lists 27 things travel has taught Candace in 27 years. it's a short list, but worth the read.

this distance calculator tells you just how far away i'll be from your house. oh, although i'm sure you could use it for other things too. ;)

in case you wish you could travel now but the obstacles seem insurmountable--Young Adventuress lists some common travel excuses and reasons why they shouldn't actually keep you from traveling (although there is some language used on this blog that I personally wouldn't use. just a heads up.)

this writer talks about his reasons for traveling young. To be honest, though, i think most of his reasons could apply to anyone, no matter their age.

food for thought: one rotary student's experience and thoughts on Eurotour.

days < 40 -- summering

piece of advice for future outbounds #3:

don't forget that your life here has its rewards too. enjoy the moment.

the reason that this post is so severely overdue is that i have been making the most of my summer. summer camps and parties and sunshine are beautiful things.

unfortunately, that also means that i have been forgetting to post as often as i should. sorry about that.

things to celebrate in the past 10 (ish) days:

• i can now solve a rubik's cube. ridiculously proud of myself.
• summer bucket list:  going to summer camp? check. rafting through rapids? check. rafting through rapids, except without a raft? check. i'm doing well on this, you guys. now if i can only find someone to go cliffjumping with me...*
• i can read a book in german! sort of. if reading means that you have the general idea of what happened.  and that it's a book you've already read. and that you have google translate nearby just in case. but still.
• i can now say that i've watched star wars. this is a cultural milestone.
• worked at VBS... helping with little kids is so, so rewarding. there were definitely some difficulties, but on the whole i'm glad i had the opportunity to help.

*just kidding. cliffjumping isn't actually on my list. neither is stormchasing or paragliding, in case you were wondering. **

**although now that I think about it, those do sound really fun. ***

***but they can wait. i'd rather be alive during my exchange year. ;)