Farewell, New World!

I leave tomorrow and all I can think about is the movie selection that my multi-media, 0n-board flight monitor will provide. Ironically, I haven't felt anxious or stressed today. I think the fact that I've been anticipating this trip for nearly two years has caused me to form jaded expectations. Until now, I've always viewed it as something in the future, something to work towards, a process. Now it's arrived, rather abruptly, and I have to perceive it as reality.

My last day at home consisted of lounging around the house, attempting to finish David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas--which I'll hopefully accomplish after posting this--fretting the final chords on my Ibanez SZ320, subsequently looping them into an awesome chord progression over which I constructed a melodic guitar solo, adding effortless and pointless touches to my packing, eating sushi with my parents, and watching the weekly marathon of The Office with my mom. I'm sure tomorrow will be much more emotional, seeing as my parents will be driving me to the Atlanta airport to see me off. We're meeting my sister for breakfast, that goodbye will be difficult as well. Hopefully my family will be able to visit me during December. If not, I will only see their faces through the innovative and convenient medium of Skype.

I received a syllabus from one of my British professors today and it made me think about school, thoughts of which have been completely absent from my mind for almost four months. My summer has been extended a month due to Britain's late academic term, late for me at least. I hope I haven't grown complacent and lost my decent work ethic during this great lull. In Newcastle I'll be taking five classes a semester, which sounds daunting at first but according to my British professor the English department at Northumbria "has an extra degree of relaxation." Apparently their school curriculum is much less stringent than here. There is, perhaps, one term paper for each class and a small project. I'm sure it will be overwhelming during the final month, seeing as each term paper requires 2,500-3,000 words--a small amount to some, but to someone who hasn't written a quality paper of more than 2,200 words...terrifying.

This post, which I realize is dull and uninformative, will serve as my last post in America. My first posting in Newcastle will hopefully be full of good news and joy. I can't tell you when I'll have time to access a computer. Frankly, I'm a little scared to plug my laptop into the obscure configuration of power adapters/converters that my Dad and I so haphazardly forced together. If the unbelievably powerful voltage of the British current does not obliterate my computer, I should be able to post a quick notification upon arrival at my dorm. Until then, however, my followers--which of now is no one--will have to continue biting their nails down to their cuticles in anticipation of my safe arrival.