Adios

It's a normal February break morning. The house is cozy and the sunlight is streaming in through the windows. Outside, a thick blanket of snow is nestled on the ground, glittering in the light, making the outdoors look deceptively warm and welcoming. The cat is curled up on my bed and I can hear the soft murmur of my sister's Glee club music coming from her room. In the middle of my rug, the giant suitcase towers. In a few hours, me, my carry-on (a laptop backpack 'cause this laptop is huge), and that giant suitcase are off to Chile.
Getting there is a very long process. My flight to Miami leaves early in the morning and I live a long way from the airport, so my mom and I are going to drive to a hotel near the airport tonight. When I get to Miami around lunchtime tomorrow, I have an orientation with AFS there. Then all the American kids going to Chile (I think there are 8 of us) are going to get on a flight to Santiago (the capital) around midnight on Thursday. We arrive Friday morning and have an orientation in Santiago until Sunday morning. Then I get to fly down to where I'm staying!

I've said goodbye to nearly everyone- fellow skiers, friends, extended family, my dad and my sister. It's only just beginning to sink in that I won't see any of these people until August. (Hugging my dad and sister for the last time in six months was a surreal experience... What will I do without my dad's corny puns and my sister's weirdness?) I've been dreaming about leaving for a study abroad for so long that it feels weird for it actually to be happening. Even packing up hasn't been enough to convince me that this is actually happening. I think it will hit when I get on my flight to Miami tomorrow morning.
Currently, the biggest worry I have with all my travelling is the luggage. On my American domestic flights and my international flight, I am allowed to have one checked suitcase weighing 50 pounds and one carry-on weighing 20 pounds. On the Chilean domestic flight, the suitcase has to be 44 pounds and the carry-on 17 pounds. These restrictions wouldn't be a problem, except I am packing everything I need for six months as well as gifts for my host family. Let me tell you, maple syrup and butter crunch are deceptively heavy. Together they take up about seven pounds of my luggage. So I'm scraping by the weight limits and hoping that no one in the Chilean airports are too picky about exact weight.


                                            My current packing situation... I think I'm done

                                               
Now I'm off to go finish all the last minute chores I've been putting off. The next time I update, I'll be in Puerto Natales.
¡Hasta luego!