One Day... This Is It

This is it.

I can't believe that after just over a year of applying and preparing and talking about it, I'm finally less than 24 hours away from boarding a plane for Firenze.

Just last week I was saying, "I'm not nervous," and it was completely true. It still felt so unreal that, to be honest, I wasn't even excited yet. But now as the sun is beginning to set on my last full day in America until May, I'm definitely feeling it.

I'm still not nervous, per se, but I have had this jittery feeling all day as I start to come to terms with the fact that I'm getting up at 5 a.m. tomorrow to move to a foreign country.

I weighed my suitcase today (which my mom and I packed yesterday) and, much to my surprise, it came to only 44 lbs., six lbs. under the allowed weight for the first bag. Which means it ships for free! Instead of the $120 it would have been if overweight. I feel very accomplished and even more relieved.

So now I am totally packed and ready to go tomorrow. It's going to be a strange experience, that's for sure, but I also trust that it will be one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I'm so excited to share it with you.

I have very little idea what to expect from here on out. I keep thinking of that scene in "The Fellowship of the Ring," when Sam stops Frodo as they head through the field at the edge of the Shire.

"This is it," Sam says as he stops beside the scarecrow.

"This is what?" Frodo asks.

"If I take one more step," Sam answers, "It will be the farthest away from home I've ever been."

Tomorrow, I'll be taking that "one more step" (but luckily I expect a much smoother trip than the one awaiting Sam and Frodo). And for a girl who's never been outside the good old U. S. of A., it's definitely going to be the farthest from home I've ever been. But that's a great thing.

If you remember the rest of that scene from LotR, Frodo reassures Sam with a great quote from Bilbo.

"You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

Ciao, Italia.