Ugh

Can't fall asleep, but have to be awake in 8 hours to get started on the day. Freaking out about tomorrow/travel/life/everything. Bad moods and jet lag make awful combinations.

Getting Ready

So today I have been packing, running errands, cleaning, essay writing, doing laundry, and generally preparing for the beginning of my 6 week adventure! Good lord, I can't believe I leave tomorrow. At 12:30 I get on a train for Edinburgh where I'm meeting up with my good friend Ratna (who is spending the year abroad there). Then its three days in Edinburgh, two in Dublin, and three in Cork (where I'll be staying with two more friends, abroad for the semester) before jetting off to the US for two weeks. Still too much to do, so I have to run!

Day 0 (?)

Well, today's the day and it's...weird. I've been coming to terms with the idea of "being abroad" for 5 months, but for some reason, thinking of it in the negative, i.e., "not being in the country" for 5 months is something I'm still not entirely ok with. It reminds me that everything here is going to continue on without me. My friends at school, the semester, people graduating.... I'm going to miss it here--I'll miss my family, my friends, familiar places, my dogs, driving on the right side of the road, knowing where I am (most of the time), and not having an accent wherever I go, among other things. I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss Fahrenheit and miles and pounds, too. :) But, nonetheless, the day is here. I'm spending the morning with some last minute packing and rounding out my to-do list. Most of it's the normal stuff, "move your car," "check in online," "don't forget your passport" and the like, but it also, unfortunately, includes the ever-lovely "pay Inyo county $211." Damn speeding ticket. So, I'm off to do all of this and get myself ready to go. Wish me luck!

All that must be done

I'm getting ready for my trip now, back in the real world after an amazing vacation to San Francisco for the past week with R. Honestly, it was the best vacation I could have asked for, and the perfect send-off for England. Now that he's heading back home, and I'm here, it's off to work (read: time to prepare and pack) for me.

I've spent the better part of the last three hours combing through my mother's recipe boxes, looking for anything I (a person with very little, if any, cooking experience) could make in a small kitchen in Cambridge. I've come up with some good ones, and dutifully copied down the recipes, asking questions all the way. I've got, among others,: homemade mac and cheese, turkey chili, lentil soup, enchiladas, oven-baked talapia, four-cheese baked casserole, cauliflower rotini, Moroccan vegetable stew, roasted balsamic green beans, gingerbread, and chocolate cake. Note the emphasis on one-pot meals. :-) Right up my alley. Who knows?, maybe along with a turning into a travel blog, this may become a cooking blog as well!

Now to make lists, sooo many lists, of all that is left to be done.