7 days 14 hours to go...

As the days are counting down, I find it harder and harder to convince myself this is actually happening. The crazy thing right now is that I just moved out of my apartment in Madison. College is officially over, and while I am heading back into a classroom this fall, it's not exactly the same thing. In fact, it's pretty much the complete opposite. I leave in just over a week for China. Yes, that's right, China. I'll be teaching English to elementary students in the Jiangsu Province (right next to Shanghai).

As I was packing up my stuff, by the way I have so much crap that I've accumulated over the last 5 years, it's disgusting. Anyways, as I was packing up, I realized that not only do I have to decide if something is worth keeping but also, do I want to take it to China? And if I don't take it to China then do I want it next summer? I don't even have a clue what I'll be doing or where I'll be living, so these choices aren't exactly the easiest. Condensing 23 years into a suitcase and a carry-on is pretty much impossible, yet here I am attempting to do just that within a week.

What's really tearing me up though is figuring out my balance with leaving. It's had to think about everything going on without me. Studying in Italy for a semester at least gives me some sort of an idea on how to cope with things, but this is a bit longer...and there's a lot more that I feel like I'm leaving behind. Graduation is a weird thing to deal with, and realizing that everyone is going off in their own directions over the next year makes me realize that it's going to be a lot different when I come home. There are a few things I do want to come home to, and hopefully they will be here when I'm back.

This is going to be the best way to keep up with my life and adventures while I'm going and I will be doing my very best to update on a weekly basis. There will be pictures, maybe videos, and most likely lots and lots of stories. I hope I don't bore anyone too much, but I'll be glad to have this documentation of such an interesting part of my life, even if no one else follows it!

Please feel free to comment and keep in touch, I will need the connections to home as much as possible while I'm on the other side of the world!