One hour. Literally crazy.

It's 1:45 a.m. as I write this. In a little over an hour I'll be meeting up with the rest of my team (I guess that's what they're called) to go to the airport. Shuttles will take us to LAX, we'll spend however long checking in and going through customs, and then our flight will leave at 7:30 a.m. We fly from Los Angeles to D.C., then to Johannesburg, South Africa with a stopover in Senegal (in West Africa). It's all so weird. So weird.

Today was unreal. We had orientation from 8:30 to 2:30, which was all-around strange. It got me excited for Africa but at the same time made me extremely anxious; it wasn't a bad anxious, just... anxious. That feeling of being in anticipation, of being in waiting. Our commissioning service was at 4:30, which was overwhelming but so good. Because I'm attending a university significantly far from home, my family couldn't make it to the service; having a myriad of college friends nearly made up for it though. You generally don't realize the love and support that you have until something like this happens. "You never know what you've got until it's gone" could not ring more true. My appreciation for APU and my friendships here has grown, and I can only hope that I've left some sort of impact in my short year and a half here so far. I'm grateful to have two more years after this. But for now... Africa. That's my focus.

Although I can somewhat pinpoint the ways in which I want to be changed, I have this feeling (and I've been told) that my expectations will be blown away; I'll be challenged in ways that I won't expect. I will grow in ways that I do not see coming. But for that I cannot wait.

There's nothing like the semi-awkward initial interactions you have with people. As I walked into the venue where our orientation was held and looked around at the 50 or so people that I will be spending the next four months of my life with, I said, "This is it." I've heard nothing but amazing things about the people I'm going with. To experience it for myself, though, is one of the many things I am excited for. To no longer simply hear about the people I'm going with but to experience it first-hand. I feel blessed already.

One hour and seven minutes. Definitely not getting sleep tonight. But that's okay. 26 hours on a plane will provide plenty of time to sleep. It's gonna be a crazy trip!

Well, here we go! Goodbye America, hello Africa.

Hello, Africa. Woah.

Six Days

Yup. I've got six days left in the States. Talk about weird. Talk about super weird.

I reached a state of limbo when everyone returned to APU and I was still at home in the Northwest. And then it got worse when classes started. Having APU go on without me; it was bizarre.

And then... it got even worse. I returned to APU yesterday and now things are really strange. Sleeping on a couch, needing my roommates to let me in to what was once my apartment, having no bedroom to go to, going to chapel without having to fill out a chapel card, having almost nothing to do while everyone else is busy... it's weird.

It's nice being home though. Christmas Break was good, but nothing beats being with friends and being back at the place in which you live. Even if I don't technically live here anymore. I've hardly been here for twenty-four hours yet I have had an amazing time. Catching up with friends, going on a run in the beautiful sunshine, relaxing... it's too great. I figure I'm going to need the rest before I leave, because once I leave, I won't be sleeping much until summer break. Life's about to get crazy!

I wish I had more to say but not much is happening these days. God is good.

Six days. HOLY MOLY.