The Big Update

I'll be leaving the cornfields on Indiana on May 8th, I think. I'll be out of the dorms for sure on May 7th. While I'm really excited, I'm also really sad. Whoever thought that I'd hate to leave Anderson? I'm going to miss everyone so much. It's not going to be like leaving high school at all.

But the exciting thing is that I'm leaving for ENGLAND on May 16th! I'll barely have a week home to get spend some time with my family and get everything ready for my trip. I'm going to England for 6 months to be an au pair, a sort of live-in nanny. I'm very excited and a little nervous. It's crazy how your life can change. I never thought I would be doing something like this. I was all set to spend the next year at home, working as a waitress or something, hanging out with some of my old NJ friends, and generally taking a break. It's insane, it's crazy, it's incredible. I'm going to be living with a Christian family in Emsworth, right on the southern coast on England. They have four kids, ages 2-8, and they're really involved with the youth group at their church. They seem like wonderful people, and I think I'll really get along with the kids. It's been such a crazy process, and it's not over yet. I've just applied for my visa, I have to buy my tickets to London, and I have to map out my way from the airport, to London to get my visa validated, to Emsworth. I'm getting to meet up with some of my friends from school in London for the day, though, and that'll be really cool. Overall, I'm super excited, and I'm going to try to make the most out of this amazing opportunity.

But I'm realizing more and more how much I'm going to miss Anderson. Ironically, I've made friends with a lot of graduating seniors recently, and it sucks to know that even if I come back to visit, they're not going to be here. And I'm not going to be able to come back for RUSH, which is going to be really awesome this year. I'm going to miss all my friends so much, and even though I'll have internet access and stuff and I'll send tons of postcards (let me know if you want one!), I know I'm not going to be able to keep in touch with all of them like I want to. I think the saddest thing about relationships is knowing that people can go on and be happy without you. I mean, I know that they're going to miss me too, but after a while, we'll all move on.

We've (and by we've I mean I've) decided that I'm the lame duck of Anderson University, like the way a president who's been voted out is a lame duck. Though, if we continue with this metaphor, it's like I'm going on to be queen of England.

Yeah, it's going to hurt leaving Anderson.