August 16, 2008 - Spokane, Washington Airport

Well it has been quite an interesting start to my next world adventure, my year of study abroad, and I haven’t even left the country yet! Running on 3 hours of sleep, what feels like a rough hangover, and the odd sensation of a slow recognition that I am actually leaving, off on my next great adventure, it is dawning on me that I will not see my family or most of my friends for around 10 months. Having been living in Canada for the past 2 school years, I have become accustomed to the distance in physical terms between myself and my parents, but this new, exciting move I am about to embark on pushes the limits of physical distance to a whole new level. I will no longer be able to simply pick up a phone, push a speed dial button or shoot a text message into the wireless world of communication and be instantly connected with my family. For the next 10 months I will be on a new plane in the world of communication, one where it is much more difficult to connect with home. As I sit here in this slightly deserted airport, after a day full of events leading to my departure from my family occurring much sooner than expected, I am starting to feel that somber pang in my chest due to the distance already grown physically between us, knowing all too well that the distance will only continue to grow ten fold. The final image of my parents through the car window as I pulled away, leaving them in a highway pull out in a very isolated, rural area next to their broken-down car, was that of the sadness in their eyes that they unsuccessfully tried to conceal with smiles and words of farewell. They, too, knew well that their darling daughter was leaving the nest yet again, only this time I would be flying off to whole different world, far from home. As I sit here now, that excitement that has been rushing through me for the past few weeks is beginning to subside slightly and nerves are beginning to settle in. They are common worries that one experiences as they go head-on into a new move: Will I enjoy it? Will I grow apart from those I love? Will I be accepted in this new place? Will it all work out as planned? Of course, there are no answers, for the future is absolutely littered with uncertainty. The only way to quell the nerves is to reassure myself that it will be an amazing new adventure and whatever is to come, whether it be good or bad, will fill the pages of the book of my life with more excitement and experiences than could possibly be jotted down if I were to play it safe and succumb to the nagging nerves. So, as I sit here, I pull myself together, hold my head up and shall now proceed into the storm of uncertainty that is my year of study abroad in the Dominican Republic - my next great adventure.