Four Days and Counting

I am writing this post from a hotel room in Chicago, where I will be spending the next few days hanging out with my family (my mom's side) for the last time before my Chilean adventure begins. Wednesday was my grandma's 75th birthday (happy birthday, Bubbe!!) so we're all gathered here to celebrate and spend some time together before we all go back to different parts of the world. It's funny, because seemingly everyone in my generation on this side of my family is beginning something huge right now--three cousins are entering new schools (high school, college, a new college), my sister is applying to college, another cousin is applying to law school; there are new jobs, new apartments, and big trips planned--so I am in very good company in terms of feeling the whole dichotomy of nerves and excitement.

I would say that my biggest worry at this point is being away from my family for so long. I know that five months isn't really that long, but thinking about it, it feels like ages. (Five months ago, I was just returning back to Amherst from Spring Break--I don't even remember what I did!) I know that when I go away I will be missing things. If my sister applies early decision to a college and gets accepted, I will miss the entire college application process. I may be happy to miss out on all the stress, but there is a very strong possibility that I won't be there when she gets her first acceptance letter, and I probably won't be on the other end of an immediate excited screaming phone call, either.

Even at school, I talk to my parents almost every day. I know it's odd for a twenty-something, but I don't feel any need to break the pattern. Unfortunately, I'll have to learn to settle for weekly phone calls and as-frequent-as-possible e-mails for a bit. I've set up a Skype account, and my dad bought a webcam yesterday, so tomorrow we're going to figure out his Skype...which should be interesting. (If anyone has Skype, leave me your username in the comments section and I'll add you!)

Big target of nervousness #2: Today while waiting in the airport, I was trying to do one of our reccomended reading assignments. It is a very interesting article by Cristian Cox about the changes in Chile's educational system from the 1980s to about 2000 (a PDF can be found here). However, it is all in Spanish--and it took me over an hour to read the two-and-a-half page introduction. I have twenty pages to go, and this is just one assignment. It's been like when I was trying to read William Faulkner--I read the same sentence over and over, I look up words, I reread the sentence to make sure I understand, and then I reread the sentence before it to make sure things make sense, etc. Fortunately, I understand the articles I'm reading now more than I understood Faulkner--but still it's a struggle to finish. And I know I'm in for a semester of intense readings such as these. I hope I have some free time.

Random Things I Will Really Miss From the US When Abroad:

• The Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday New York Times crossword puzzles
• Cheeseburgers (ironically)
• Q104.3's Twelve O'Clock Beatles Block
• Law and Order: SVU nightly marathons
  
• Hour-long phone conversations where absolutely nothing is spoken about

I am excited, I swear--the excitement's just being overshaddowed a bit right now by the crazy-nerves.