T-minus 3 Days, and Counting

These last several weeks have been a blur of friends, family, and running errands. (No joke: I think I have run more errands in the past week than I have during the rest of the summer combined.) Getting ready to leave for the year has been busy, but also really good.

My best friend from high school, Lauren, moved to CT last summer. She came to "the deuce" for a few days to visit (and very nicely picked me up with two of our other friends from the Detroit airport at 1am when I came back from China). Anyway, Ann Arbor just finished building a new high school. It's the third high school here and is very controversial. Lauren and I were with our other friend, Kenzie (oh, the bonds that are made in our high school flute section), and drove by the new high school. We decided to see if we could get in, which we could. Look at this hallway. It goes on forever. Hence the "what the hell?!" face.

Spending time with two of my closest friends, Suresh (UMich) and Lauren (American).

My time at home has also included spending time with my sister, Jenny, which rarely happens and is really nice when it does. The other day we went to Sweetwaters, a fantastic coffee shop, for a few hours. Jenny was working on her college apps (something I definitely do not miss) and I read a book. I also took some photos of her while she worked. There's something very picturesque about watching her work in a coffee shop. Plus, she's just pretty (and for those of you who don't know, taller than me!)

These last few weeks also included a quick trip to Florida to visit my Nana (mom's mom). She lives in a beautiful condo right on the beach with a private swimming pool. Visiting her and spending time swimming or reading on the beach is always fantastic. My Nana's home in Florida is my special place. I'm really glad I got to go before I left for Spain.

My other grandparents (dad's parents) also came to visit for a weekend. Spending time with them was also great. Funny story: my grandpa told me that McCain sent him some mail soliciting a donation. He took the prepaid envelope (prepaid by McCain) and filled it with iron. He proudly informed me that he cost McCain about $2 in worthless postage. I kid you not. I love my family. Anyway, seeing both sets of grandparents before I leave was really important to me, and I'm glad that I got to do that.

Back to Florida. My mom's older sister, Shelley, came down from DC on the last full day we were there with her two kids, Eli and Sarah. This is getting repetitive, I know, but seeing them was fantastic. I wish we could have spent more time together.

I guess it runs in the family.

That's my mom.

There are still things to do, places to go, and people to see, but my list of what I have to get done is shrinking by the day. Pretty soon (um, 3 days), my obligations to this place will be done for the year and I will be off. Ten (or eleven, we'll see) months is by far the longest amount of time I have gone without being home. There are times when I think that going abroad is a huge deal. Other times, it seems like nothing and I'm not anxious/nervous/worried at all.

What's weird is that most of my friends are back at Cornell. I miss them over the summer, sure, but I miss them more when I know that they're back in our Cornell world, back in the world that we share and not in our separate, home worlds. What's more bittersweet is that two of my closest friends are graduating a year early, so this is their last year. When I get back to Cornell, they'll be gone. I am still thrilled to be going to Spain and I absolutely do not regret my decision. I just do not understand where the time has gone and how it is that my friends could possibly be graduating already...!

Ah, yes. Time is a tricky thing. (Good thing I'm studying it.)
Speaking of time: my flight to Seville got switched around, so I will be in the Frankfurt airport with Liliana (one of my close friends from high school who is also going to Seville for the year on the SAME program--it's a joint Cornell, Michigan, Penn program and she goes to Michigan) for 10.5 hours. Anyone know anything fun to do in that airport? I'm open to any suggestions.

Our last flight (we have three) is from Barcelona to Sevilla. It's on Spanair. I know that theoretically the Spanair crash that just happened (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/world/europe/22madrid.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin) means that Spanair will be much more careful with their flights and we aren't flying out of Madrid, but still. It's easy for my imagination to come up with things...

Anyway, I wish everyone a good few days and I wish my friends a very happy move-in/start of the academic year. I don't start school until the end of September--this next month will be all about learning to feel comfortable in Seville and exploring and the whatnot. Should be awful. :-)

I have been planning this year since my junior year of high school. And now it's finally here. It feels so surreal...
(year, here, surreal... it rhymes!)