Worried Sick

Because of my recent concern and lingering anxiety towards my departure, I literally have induced ongoing stomach pains for the last few weeks. Initially, I thought these pains were ulcers or a type of infection, or--because I always think the worst--Crohn's disease. My overreaction even caused me to go as far as having an endoscopy, a procedure involving the insertion of a tube-like camera down my throat. This procedure was done today and it turned out that nothing was to be found except mild inflammation within the stomach, which was obviously caused by unnecessary stress.

Since I've been home (about three weeks) I've been trying to medically prepare myself for the trip and this has included things like the above procedure, dental work, arranging a year's worth of prescription for my heart medication, blood-work, etc. My goal was, along with my parents', to achieve a sense of peace of mind before going overseas for a whole year. As of now, that sense has been reached and I'm ninety percent worry-free. I suppose the ten percent of concern lies within what's to come. I foresee the assimilation process as being a continual discovery and a surprise at every turn. From re-learning a new grammatical system of writing to switching my mentality of a right-side traffic flow to a left-side; from uncovering the nuances of the Geordie dialect to learning how to assess prices marked by the British Pound; and from comprehending obscure English idioms to discovering distinct cultural trends that I cannot begin to even imagine, this trip will be dense with subtle obstacles. I think, however, that I should view these as self-developing obstacles rather than hindrances. This trip, I can already tell, will be a wonderful learning experience and definitely result in some type of edification, and for that I'm grateful and ineffably excited.