Gross....and did I say, GROSS??

Today, I had my first experience with strange Korean food. My mom, my aunt, my cousin and I all went out to lunch after I had moved into my apartment before shopping. We ate fish soup. I'm munching away at my fish soup, when my aunt ladles another spoonful of soup and there's a strange looking something in my bowl all of a sudden. So, I casually ask my mom "What is that?" And she just kind of looks around, like I hadn't said anything. I repeated my question and she kind of looks at me and says, quietly and very nonchalantly, "inside." I sat on that answer for a few seconds, deciding whether I wanted her to elaborate...then I decided, that I wanted to know, so I asked, "inside what?" Again, she tried to ignore the question that fell from my mouth, forcing me to repeat myself. "INSIDE WHAT??" "Stomach." She says and continues eating her food like she hadn't said anything at all. I still don't know inside who's stomach it was...cow? Pig?...fish...?? But in an effort to be brave, I tried it. It didn't really have a taste but the texture was really disgusting.


Last night we went to Hwasong Fortress. We hiked up, which was wonderful, it's the first form of exercise I've really gotten! But it was a short, really easy hike to the top. It was a gorgeous sweeping view of the city. And it's really neat to learn all that history!


And the BIG news!! Finally moved into my apartment! Woohoo!! I'm sure my cousin is glad to be rid of me, though I will miss all the space in her house! I live in a tiny studio...It's probably about the size of the bedroom in my Raleigh, NC, USA apartment. But, it'll do I suppose. I've decorated to the best of my ability for now, and will have to purchase some small thing later to make it homey and pretty...though my parents don't approve of homey and pretty. The apartment wasn't really dirty..but it was kind of gross...especially when you get into the knitty gritty stuff that most people don't bother to check. My mom is on a bit of a cleaning frenzy...which makes me really thankful she's here! But I feel bad because so far she's cleaned everything...and I've decorated. In all truthfulness though, I tried to help her and she kind of shoo'd me away...so I cleaned what I could (like the floors) and she complained that they're still dirty. So, I left her alone and did what I needed to do! I'll post something at some point when the apartment is ready to be seen.

The trash situation here is kind of annoying. You have to buy trash bags and are only allowed to use those for trash. And they're small and expensive. Then you have to sort all of your recyclables...and food trash has it's own separate trash can, but they don't put it in bags, they just dump old food in this dumpster which is pretty gross. The trash situation is even more annoying since there's all this crap leftover in the apartment...some of it is left from the girl who lived here before the guy that just moved out...so it's been sitting for about 2 years. And some stuff is from the guy who just moved out..I assume, through my rose colored glasses, that he was trying to be nice by leaving some stuff that he would have thrown away (like hangers...and noodles, and a 1/2 used bottle of vodka. Maybe he thought I would enjoy those things. And some stuff, I thought would be ok to keep, like the dishes and whatnot...but my mom, being super grossed out by everything in this apartment has disposed of everything. And what she can't throw away (like the dishes) she has put on the top shelf and has ordered me not to touch them..to just leave them there for whoever lives here next. What would I do without her??

My mom, holding a wooden cutting board "This. Is. Gross." She then tosses it under the sink. Funny lady.

Theme for the day?? Gross.

P.S. I HATE T-Mobile. I was told I could put a hold on my contract while I'm out of town..and I'm trying to do that now, and this lady is trying to tell me that I'll have to pay the full amount every month still...soooo I won't have my phone to use, but I still have to pay my montly bill??? Nuh uh, no way, no how.

DoneZo

Orientation is officially over, as is the semester, which I am glad for! I'm sure Eddie and Clarence are also happy to have me out of their hair now, and Clarence will be glad to go home, or South America or wherever he decides he's headed next.

Nothing truly eventful has happened yet, it's all been pretty tedious. I have just been sitting in on Eddie and Clarence's classes, and "learning" how to teach. Since it's the end of the semester though, I do feel like they've been a little more relaxed. My schedule kind of stinks, but I guess it's one of those things I'll just have to deal with. I work 6:30-11am, then 6-10pm, with a nice 7 hour break in the middle. Officially, the new semester starts on Thursday, and I get to move into my apartment on Wednesday.

Today, I have to go to the doctor for a check-up, a requirement for my alien registration card. I'm not happy about it! Who knows what I will find in a Korean hospital!

Suwon, the city I'm in, is considered a small normal city here in Korea, but I think it's crowded and busy like New York. It's bright and the buildings are plastered in signs. Everything kind of looks the same to me, so it's hard to find my way around. And they don't have street names here, they rely on the area or a building in the area to find directions. For example, the bus stop where my cousin lives is the name of her apartment. And our addresses don't have street names. Each apartment has a number, and they're listed in an order so they're easy to find apparently. Then each apartment has a name and that's the address: # Name of Apartment, Individual Apartment #, City, County, State, Country.

On Saturday, my cousin took us into Seoul, the capitol city. It wasn't as crowded as I expected. I assumed it would be like Times Square in New York, but it wasn't like that at all. It was kind of like a normal city. We went to this very touristy shopping center called Insadong. It was cool, they really cater to the tourists though. And everything there is very expensive, like most tourists traps.

Next we went to a castle, KyungBok Gong or KyungBok Castle. It was beautiful and very large. From the outside, it didn't look that big, but walking around inside the palace walls we got lost. The castle is surrounded by mountains and makes for a lovely view. The castle had these guards, some that stood at the entrance and some that just walked around the palace. They looked so angry...and hot (like sweaty hot, not sexy hot). They were dressed head to toe in old fashioned gear. And you can tell they were really annoyed with the tourists constantly trying to take pictures of them/with them. My cousin made me take like 20 pictures with them.

After the castle, we met up with my mom's friend from Virginia, who treated us to potbingsoo, which is kind of like Korean ice cream. It's shaved ice, usually infused with milk, topped with sweet red beans and some other delicious things. Next, we went to Namsan or Seoul Tower. It's essentially like the Empire State building. We went to the top and I was TERRIFIED. It's 777ft tall, but it's at the top of a mountain. So when you look out the window, you're not looking at the base of the tower, you're looking at the bottom of the mountain. It's crazy. It offers a gorgeous view of the entire city though, so I'm glad we went.

And to top it off, I watch the movie Splice with another teacher in between classes...worst movie EVER.

And I think I'm going to start posting pictures here using a photo viewing device instead of on facebook or just posting the pictures on the blog itself. It'll save time, I think! So I have to figure out how to do that!

Things I Have Noticed

I just met my first Korean Aunt. It was a little awkward because I can't speak Korean, and she can't speak English. So...there was a lot of awkward smiling. She invited us to go to the spa...which in Korea is naked. I'm glad my mom said no to that..I personally would not like to hang out naked with my mom and aunt...So I suppose we're going to karaoke instead.

But some fun speculations.

Here instead of naming relatives by name, they say the location, for example, the aunt I just met is not called Aunt So&So, she's called Suwon Emo (Suwon=the city she/we live in, Emo=Aunt.

Everything in Korea is cute.

Childrens television is weird everywhere. Miguk,Sponegebob issuhyo, Tehhamiguk, EggBoy issuhyo (in America, we have Spongebob, in Korea we have Egg Boy).

Bus drivers don't wait for anything...I mean ANYTHING. If you're not close enough to the curb when they pull up, they'll leave you. If you're not standing at the back door, they won't stop to drop you off.

Korean fashion is awesome.

Jetlag sucks.

Korea is very aesthetically busy. There are so many signs everywhere.

Day Tree

So today is day 3 in Korea, Day 1 at work. My job seems kind of easy, but difficult at the same time. There's no set curriculum, and the class is a speaking class. All I have to do is come up with a topic and then have my class discuss it. My schedule isn't that great, however. I will be working 6:30-11am, then again from 6-10pm monday through Friday, then 10-1 on Saturday. That break in the middle is nice, but the early mornings and late nights are going to be kind of awful.

I had to have my photo taken today in a Korean photo studio. I thought that was neat. They use photoshop to touch up everything, but don't ask you whether you want it or not. So he cleared up my face and then made my face smaller. It was kind of awesome.

I also got to see my apartment..well, not my apartment, one of the apartments in my building. And I helped someone move today...very interesting first day! The apartments are small...really small...but very updated. The bathroom even has a shower stall with a door, which is quite impressive. There's a lot of closet space and a washer machine where the dishwasher should be. However, I think that it will be quite dirty when I get there. They don't clean anything...and they don't require the previous tenant to clean, and since my previous (/current) tenant is a man..I kind of assume it may not be pretty.

Dang this JETLAG. My mom is quite affected as well. She started to fall asleep, and then laid down and was passed out within seconds, which is where I'm about to be in about 2 minutes!

Day 2

Today was my first real day in Korea..where I left the house. Well, I left the house yesterday, once for dinner. But today I got to go all around Suwon-si. I met another cousin, who didn't speak very much English, and since my Korean is lacking, to say the least, our conversation was minuscule. Luckily, we had Amy, her sister to translate.

We went to see the Smurfs Movie, but they didn't have any subtitle shows so I watched it in Korean. I understood maybe about 1/3 of the movie, partially because of the actions and partially because I had seen commercials, and sometimes I just understood what they were saying. Which being here makes me realize I understand a lot more Korean than I thought I did, but at the same time I don't understand very much at all. It's a little contradicting, I know..and very frustrating. But I have no doubt I will pick it up quickly.

Amy then took me on some personal errands (for me). She took me to Suwon Station and we went to get a phone for me. For some reason, they charge foreigners more for phones, so my phone is technically not mine. Kind of strange, I think. But the salesman was so nice, he didn't speak much English but said he wanted to learn. He was little embarrassed about his accent. At one point, he asked me where I was from, and I told him Miguk, which means U.S. in Korean...and it surprised him that I spoke Korean. So then I felt awesome, because I think he assumed I couldn't understand him because my cousin was translating the whole time, and for the most part, I couldn't understand him. I picked up a few key words here and there to connect sentences, but that was pretty much it. So I felt awesome for a few minutes while he thought I could understand him..then he asked me a question that I just could not comprehend...so my awesomeness flew out the window.

You don't realize how second nature it is to speak your own language until you have to speak another language. My first instinct is to respond in English and I have to stop and correct myself...often times I end up saying both English, then Korean. One day, it will get better!

Then we went to STARBUCKS. Home SWEET bliss.

Next I got to see my workplace and meet a few people, including 2 of my 3 bosses. It was a little uncomfortable, since none of my bosses speak English apparently. So I just said hello, and nice to meet you..and then we would stand awkwardly until my cousin would say something like, "ok, I'm going to show her around some more. Thank you for your time." I also am kind of embarrassed about my Korean because I think my pronunciation is wrong a lot of times and that I have a strange accent, so I tend to mumble through my words which makes it that much more unsuccessful.

She tried to get me set up with a bank account, but that didn't work out as we had hoped. I have to try again in a few weeks.

And I rode the bus! I also bought a bus pass...well, Amy bought it for me...but it's Hello Kitty.
It was exciting to see that the Korean phone bling actually has a purpose! Granted, I'm sure there are some that are purely decorative.

To end the day, I will be going to Incheon to pick up my mommy. I'm excited to see her, and for her to be here. Hopefully everything is going well with her flights and luggage!

Jet lag is some serious business.

I Have Arrived

DAY 1

To detail my experiences thus far, I would like to start by saying...Holy Margarine, I'm in Korea!

I flew KoreanAir, which was luxurious--even for economy class. We ate with real silverware and had hot meals. The flight attendants are all tall and beautiful and very helpful (when they could hear and understand what I was saying..which wasn't that often). And they gave us a complimentary bottle of water, blanket and pillow, toothbrush/toothpaste and house slippers to wear around the cabin! I especially enjoyed the house slippers. I also had an exit row seat which was amazing. I had asked for a window seat, and that's what they gave me, but the window was behind my chair so I didn't really have a window. But it didn't really matter because there wasn't anything to see. The seat I was in though, didn't have any chairs in front of me at all. There was a wall about 6 feet in front, so I had a lot of room to get up and walk around with ease. And 14 hours is a LONG time! After about 7 hours, 6 of which I slept through, I started to get a little stir crazy and couldn't fall back asleep for the rest of the flight. The flight attendants knew I am Korean though, all the other non Korean's they thanked in English but when I walked by they spoke Korean..it made me feel awesome.

Landed, and I must say--Thank Goodness for family! I don't know what I would do without my cousins! My phone doesn't work. Well, I can't call or text but can get online in WiFi hotspots. So I had no way of calling anyone. Luckily, she has an extra phone that she's loaning to me and I'll have to figure out how to get a prepaid card with my cousin Amy tomorrow. I didn't know where I was going. And very luckily, my cousin, Hayon, just bought a car about 6 months ago so I didn't have to carry my luggage on the bus!

Her apartment is really nice. It'll be about a week and half before I get to move into my own place. She has a "2" bedroom, except the second room is a closet...literally. Which is kind of the most amazing walkin closet I've ever seen. And her bathroom is luxurious for Korean bathrooms, from what I seen. There are gian pink flowers on the walls from the previous tenants, newlyweds, apparently.

I slept for most of the day today. I was too afraid to leave my cousins apartment by myself, especially since I don't have a usable cell phone...so if I get lost, I'm just lost. But then she came home from work, and brought my other cousin, Amy, with her and they took me out to dinner. It was a very traditional Korean restaurant, where you take your shoes off at the door and sit on the floor. They brought the food to the table and cooked it there. It was good. I am please to admit that I ate mushrooms and weren't completely grossed out by this particular mushroom. I'll have to figure out which one it is so I know for the future.

I'm also realizing that my Korean is really bad. I know enough to get around if necessary, but am completely incapable of having any sort of conversation. I'll need to work on that..and quickly, since apparently my bosses..and some family members don't speak English! And I feel so different, I clearly stick out like sore thumb and people tend to look at me. They don't look in a rude way but still, it makes me slightly uncomfortable.

And so far all of my electronics have failed me. My laptop cable doesn't fit into the adapter I have, so my computer is dead until my mom gets here with a new adapter. My phone doesn't work, but does charge, so it is usable in some fashion! And my hair straightener doesn't work. I think it's because it's a different voltage. It will turn on when I plug it in, but then will turn off right before it's hot enough to use. So that's a bummer, since it's kind of a really good hair straight iron!

But, everything will work out and will be ok.

I really miss my buddy, already. And I feel bad for both him and my dad who have to live together for the next 2 weeks. Neither of them are going to be happy about it. I just hope my buddy behaves himself, because his grandpa isn't going to tolerate a lot.

My Nose Would Be Broken

Oh my...Surreal became real this morning like a ton of bricks right on the nose. It really hit me that I'm leaving in two days. And I have to leave my buddy behind.

WHAT AM I DOING????

Counting Down

Holy Margarine, I leave in 4 days. It's so close, but it still doesn't feel real. I think it will hit me when I land at ICN and no one is speaking English anymore. My mom bought her ticket and I'm so excited she's going with me now, except she's not actually going with me. Because of the price of tickets, she's flying the next day and will meet me there. I'm kind of glad she won't be on the same flight, it makes me feel a little more like a grown up and less like a baby who needs her mommy--but I'm sad she's flying on a completely different day because that means I still have to figure everything out when I land on my own. How am I going to get around?? I'm hoping my cousin will find a way to meet me at the airport!

This past weekend was probably the best last weekend in the States. I went to Charleston to celebrate my friends birthday and it was just such an outrageous weekend. We had an 80s themed night on Friday. I randomly met a fellow KB which was nuts, I think. Of all the parties in the world...The next night we went to this cute little restaurant and then out for drinks. We were all kind of in recovery and the birthday girl was the only one drinking...and I felt bad so I made sure the drinks kept coming...and she got nice a plastered.

I was at the bar ordering her a drink, which was kind of ridiculous because people were just standing at the bar and kept giving me these nasty looks when I would try to squeeze in to order. I finally make my way in, and the bartender ignores me--typical. So the guy next to me gets the bartenders attention and then asks me what I want. He was so nice, and I think he was going to buy my drinks, but when I tell him my drink order (a captain/sprite and a shot of rumplemintz) he gives me a look of "Holy...you're freakn insane and NEVERMIND." He orders my drinks for me and then sort of makes a run for it. It made me chuckle.

All in all it was a good weekend. Charleston always makes me want to live near the water, it's such an awesome town.

FOUR DAYS!!!!

Today Goes to the Movies

Geez Louise...3 posts in one day...and 3 movies in one day.... I'm going to go ahead and say I am having quite a lazy day!...or an awesome day, depending on how you look at it.

Jane Eyre...beautifully captured. Moving, as I already stated.

The Change-Up. It's almost exactly Freaky Friday in man form, for adults. But I think they did a really nice job with it. It was funny and entertaining and had a few plot twists. And...uh, Ryan Reynolds...enough said.

Source Code. WHHHAAAAT was that?!? My mind was sooooo confused the entire movie. And then at the end, wouldn't he have ruined it for himself...because he fixed the situation before he had a chance to start. Oh my goodness, it was so good, but so hard for my brain to get a grip on. And once again I have to say...Jake Gyllenhall (he's actually my favorite actor for more than just the fact that I find his physical appearance breathtaking).

Speaking of Eloquence

I went on kind of a Sam Worthington binge today. I watched Avatar again recently..and it set it off. I googled him, found his IMDb site and then found out that he's Australian...and that's where the binge got serious. I'm sure most people already knew he's Australian, I had never really bothered to look into it...usually not being a celebrity cyber stalker. I'm also sure that most people already heard that he was living his car before Avatar. I watched a few red carpet clips of him just to listen to what he actually sounds like...and well, I was a little disappointed and excited all at the same time. He not as eloquent as say Chris Hemsworth--another super delicious Australian actor. In the clip you can tell that people are a little less impressed with him because he's not of their caliber...yet. New money, I guess you could call it (if such classes still exist...which they do, just non-verbally). But I like that he is still himself (or at least I assume he is...). He didn't feel the need to pretend to be a rich movie star and hide his past or blend in like vanilla. But...regardless of who he is or who he pretends to be...he's still quite pretty.

Eloquence?

I just watched Jane Eyre and it makes me sad that we no longer speak with such eloquence and passion. The story itself is so ridiculously moving...they did a lovely job.

With that said...I have 10 days left!

Weekends Come and Go, but Friends..Well You Get It

I had an awesome weekend in New York. I was only there for two days or so...but I enjoyed almost every second of it..thanks mainly in part to my mom's credit card, which I intend on paying off this Friday when I get paid.

It started out quite eventful in the Charlotte long term parking lot. I couldn't find a spot anywhere and had been driving around for about 10 minutes, but no luck. Then I see this girl get off the bus and start walking toward her car. So, I follow her. I stalk her as she walks aimlessly through three aisles, clearly having no idea where her car is. Then, she turns around and starts walking towards me on a one way street. Being a little pressed for time (having to catch a flight and all), as she walks passed me, I roll down my window and ask her if I can drive her to her car...as it was super hot and a very big parking lot. She hesitated and at first said no, but I insisted, and she finally got in--thinking I was doing her a favor..but it was kind of win/win, because once she found her car, I would have a parking spot. So we finally found it, and it was very close to the bus stop (score!).

And the adventure continued once I got into the city. I was waiting in the taxi line, when this man stops his taxi in the middle of the street and gets out to walk around. The taxi director man gets irate and there's a lot of yelling, trying to get this guy to move his car to the side. He finally does. And the director tries to get the people at the front of the line to get into that taxi, no one does.

It's finally my turn, and I hop into the next cab in line. He's not really paying attention to me at first, but I tell him the address and he starts to drive (as is his job). He has no idea where he's going. And we drive..and drive..and drive, and he drives over the bridge into the city. At that point, he turns and asks for the address again, and plugs it into his GPS. WHY DIDN'T HE DO THAT WHEN I GOT IN THE CAR??? I (and everyone I was talking to) thought he was just trying to rip me off, since I clearly had no idea where I was going or how to get there. But then, he turns off the meter and says that he'll take the loss because I shouldn't have to pay for his fault, which I was so thankful for. I was going to assert myself if he hadn't...which if you know me, is a huge deal for me and I kind of got very anxious about it. He eventually found it, after driving for an hour in a rage..and not the normal NYC taxi driver aggression..he apparently also had places to be but since he got lost, he put himself in a bind. So, what should have been a 10 minute drive, took an hour.

Then...Hummus Place. Amazing--DELICIOUS. When we go to pay, both N and I drop our credit cards and the waitress comes back with an attitude (the same rude attitude she had had since we walked in) and told us that she told us, like she told all her tables that the credit card machine was broken...but there was an ATM around the corner. She definitely did NOT tell us that because we wouldn't have eaten there had we known. So N had to run out to the bank and back..which was ridiculous. We should have just not paid..since she didn't tell us, it was her own fault...but that would have meant asserting ourselves--again, anxiety.

We ate so much that we walked about 30 blocks to burn it off and then headed back to the apartment. S joined us and then...DunDunDUUUUN....PLANET OF THE APES. The original, with Charlton Heston. Pretty much the most hilariously, amazingly ridiculous movie ever created. We only got through about half before people stared falling asleep.

The next day, everyone had to go to work (except me of course). So I went to Starbucks for my coffee fill, read my book, Water for Elephants (which by the way is a wonderful, amazing, spectacular book). Then I walked to meet S for lunch...of course, I walked a few blocks in the wrong direction...as usual. After lunch went to Madison Square Park...saw an awkwardly giant head statue.

Then decided to go to the Guggenheim, since I had never been. I was determined to walk the entire way, partially because I'm poor and didn't want to waste cab fare or my metro card and partially because I wanted to burn the calories. So, from 25th street to 88th in the worst possible shoes. By the time I got there my pinky toes on BOTH feet were covered in blisters. The Guggenheim was amazing. I got very dizzy at the top, and wondered if anyone ever fainted over the edge (as I felt like I would). There aren't rail guards or anything and the wall was a little lower than waist level. But the architecture is amazing and the art...some of the art was beautiful and some was just kind of weird.







Next..on to dinner. I was supposed to meet N and S back at Madison Square Park, at 25th street. They told me to meet them at 5:15 at about 4:45. So I had 30 minutes to walk about 60 blocks. At about 70th street, my toes felt strange so I stopped to investigate. And all of my blisters had popped and my pinky toes were now mangled beyond recognition. I was determined to save money so I kept walking. At about 35th street, they tell me we have a reservation in the Village at 6 and it's about 5:50. Soooo...I give in and hail a cab. He was awesome, got me there right on time (well a few minutes after but still good!)

The restaurant was an Italian place that looked really fancy and expensive, but the meals were only about $10. But they had a million bottles of wine, some as much as $1700. I guess that's where the expensive came in! We got a bottle (one of the on sale ones of course) and gelato. They had EVOO gelato! (EVOO=Extra virgin olive oil--gelato=dense ice cream). It was good, but kind of weird. And they put salt on it, which kind of ruined the top of it I think. I also got hazelnut and pistachio. MMMMMMMM-mmmmmmmmm.

Then--MORE Planet of the Apes!!!!! Such amazing acting in that movie.

Finally, my trip was over. I had to call a car service which made me feel very special driving up in a black town car like a rich person.

Such an awesome weekend for which I thank my friends.

Weekend Distraction

Weee! 17 days left!!

And I have an awesome weekend planned!

First, off to Concord to see my brother/sister-in-law and cutie pie niece. It's sort of lucky that they decided to go to Carowinds. It makes it a lot easier to see them before I leave, instead of having to coordinate schedules and drive all the way up to Virginia again. And I know there's probably no way to convince them to drive down here next weekend. So..it kind of works out!

And then, my bad decision New York City trip! I'm excited to go and see my friends. I just hope I have enough money.

Then, it's back to work..only for another 1.5 weeks. I get to quit my job when I get back from NYC, which is wonderful.

And then, the next weekend is my friends birthday, so that's something to look forward to too. And then, the next weekend is time to go!

Sad Strugglefest

Financially, I'm in a bit of a bind. I won't be getting paid for a little while and I don't have any money. And I made the mistake of thinking I could go up to New York City this weekend. So, I bought a plane ticket a while ago, and now I'm realizing that was a bad idea. And I really just don't have any money and that stinks...although I'm very excited to see my friends.

And to top it off, I found out I can't take WJ with me. And that's a big struggle for me. Part of me thinks that I should just find him a new home...it would make my life a lot easier and cheaper. But, I love him. He's my buddy and I've had him since he was a baby. And it just kind of scares me that he could end up in a bad environment. So I think the plan for now is to just leave him with my mom, where I know he'll at least be taken care of, and then play it by ear over the next couple of months.

And I officially only have 18 days left. o_0

Sheesh.

I'm going to Korea. My cousin, who facilitated my job, just told me that I will not have a place to live for a week. I was told that I need to be there by the 24..but can't move into my apartment until the 30. That's no bueno. Where am I going to live???

Never a Dull Moment

I found out today that I'm completely broke until I get my first paycheck (in a month and half). That is TERRIFYING. God is teaching me trust like none other.

In my brokeness I realized that I didn't have a suitcase..and suitcases are not cheap! I have a matching suitcase set, but of the four pieces, 2 are broken, and the 4th piece is a tiny miniature duffel bag. Luckily, the one piece of the set that is still usable is the largest one. And I have a Nike duffel that I can take with me. So, I barreled through my mom's house looking for luggage. I thought we had some old fashioned craziness in the storage room, but apparently my dad is using that nonsense.

However, I rummaged through my brother's closet--which since he doesn't live here, being a married man and all, is mainly just boxes. But there was a suitcase in there! A big suitcase! Which brings my grand total to 2 suitcases, 1 duffel, a carry on luggage and a carry on bag. I think I can fit my entire life into 5 bags.

I'm starting to get excited about going. It feels like it's starting to become a reality. And I hate waiting.

I also really wish I was wealthy. I looked up what the first class looks like on the airline. They have these sleeper seats that are amazing. You have your own little cocoon seat that lays all the way back down so you can essentially have a bed. WHY oh why am I poor??