Monday, December 12, 2011

The End of One Chapter, The Beginning of Another.

I just finished my last, and only, final of fall semester. Which means that my next step is spring semester and my student teaching in Brazil. To say that I'm not nervous would be a complete lie. To say that I'm not sad would be an even bigger lie. This is an incredible opportunity and cannot wait to be there and be living this whole experience, as opposesd to sitting in Ohio and talking about it, but I'm also quite sad. Sad that I'm going to miss my last semester in Ashland, sad that I'm not going to be with my friends for our last half of senior year. But I've also been realizing how blessed I am to have had these four years here at Ashland. I've met incredible people, experienced amazing things, been given opportunites that I never could have dreamed of, and learned more than I had ever thought possible. I'm sad to go, but happy that I'm at a place that is so hard to leave.

Sappy stuff aside, I received my plane ticket yesterday! Actually having it makes everything seem so much more real. I sent in for my passport the week before Thanksgiving and then received an email from Dr. Ellis the week after Thanksgiving saying that he needed my information by noon that day so that Our Lady of Mercy could get our plane tickets. Guess who didn't have that information. I called the passport agency and they were pretty helpful, but I didn't get my information. I finally received my passport on December 10, sent it to Dr. Ellis who sent it to OLM, and I received my ticket on December 12. Despite the mishaps with my passport, I'm still flying with the other girl from Ashland and the two girls from BG-- thank goodness!

We'll be flying out of Detroit the evening of January 27 and making a short stop in Washington DC before continuing on to Rio de Janiero. Then three months later, we'll hop on the plane late April 29, fly into Houston, TX, and then fly home to Detroit. We'll get in before noon on April 30 and I'll have to come right back to campus for class. I'm so glad that I'll be back here for a week before graduation-- just enough time to squeeze in some more memories and laughs before walking across that stage on May 5.

It's. Really. Happening.