Viva La France

"America is my home, and Paris, my hometown."

Ok. So I'm not going to Paris.

I'm going here.

Aix En Provence, France

Beautiful, eh?

Eh.

I will be attending the L'Acadmie d'Aix-Marseille.

For the entire next school year.

Entire. Next. School. Year.

It just hit me. Like, big time.

Because we had the awards ceremony today for everyone accepted into the study abroad program. And there were all these kids there, going all over the world- Denmark, Germany, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Ghana, Sydney, London, Japan... EVERYWHERE. Not to seem cheesy, but it sort of felt like we were in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, representing the country we were going to. Carrying the torch of fire from one country to... ok, I'm stopping. But I mean, you could have cut the excitement in the air with a knife. We are embarking on the adventure of a lifetime.

I am embarking on the adventure of a lifetime.

T-Minus 5 months.

Each precious moment I have with my family, my friends, my Peanut Butter (!!!) is crucial. No matter how excited I am about this, I will miss them so much. And I'm sure within the next five months I will have, I don't know, 456732 meltdowns. Especially when trying to pack. How do you pack for a year?

(yeah, the international programs people suggest that you take all of the things you would like to bring, and then cut that in half. something like "pack three pairs of pants, 5 shirts, a jacket and shoes." uhh, NO. That just doesn't work for me.)

And how do you say goodbye at the airport without bursting into an uncontrollable fit of sobs? How do you say, "Where is the bathroom?" in French?!

And how...

I guess I will just have to figure it out. Because the thing that is keeping me holding on is the thought of getting off that plane, out of the airport, and breathing my first breath of FRENCH AIR. And knowing that I made it.

L'homme ne peut pas decouvrir de nouveaux oceans a moins qu'il n'ait le courage pour perdre la vui de la cote.

P.S. I have been posting a lot.

Like everyday.

And I think because this blog, is right now The Coolest thing ever to me.

So sorry that I am a pretty post happy at the moment.

I'm sure it's just a phase.

:)

Revelations

Revelation #1: I love love love love love my friends. No, like, on the verge of obsession, love.

I'm the person who has best friends with the same people their whole life.

No, like seriously, my whole life.

The least I've known any of these girls is 5 years. The most is 15.

I grew up with these girls.

They are the ones who who knew me back when my life's ambition was to be an Egyptologist. (Yes, I was kind of sort of OBSESSED with the Mummy movies)

They have seen me through awkward phases.

Through stupid boys and ugly annoying girls.

They are the source of most of my laughter and the butt of most of my jokes.

They are the best people I know.

[[Victoria, Kristin, Hannah, Jess Pitchford, Jay Carroll, Cailey, Kellie, and Alympia]]

Oh, how I love them.

(Alympia somehow managed to be missing from every picture I had of the group, and Kellie isn't in this one either. Just imagine them in it.)

Senior year was without a doubt, our year.

Our friendship had never been stronger... until NOW.

I realized this recently:

I think we are closer apart then we ever were together. Because as the lovely Hannah said, now we don't take for granted our time when were all together.

I cannot wait till summer.

When we will take a picture where everyone is present. Heh Hum... Lymp.

:)

Revelation #2: Life is an adventure. I should inspire myself everyday.

I am an ordinary person. I do average things. I wake up every morning and go to bed every night. I breathe in, I breathe out. But my life is, nonetheless, an adventure of EXTRAordinary magnitude. Because each day I live, I feel the wind on my face, I learn something that may change my life, and I do something that may change someone else's. I will meet people, make them laugh, make them cry, make them think. Each breath that I take has thunderous sound. Ordinary, Extraordinary; there are synonymous if you believe your ordinary is extraordinary. That’s what’s gonna change the world. That’s what going to make a difference. That’s thing that will make your life worth watching

when it flashes in front of your eyes.

-Caitlin Martin

isn't this picture inspiring? :)

I didn't know how to post my pictures the way I wanted them last time, so here we are...

Me in my turban.

:)

Could you imagine this calling you?

Now, on to today's business. So I went home to T-mec this weekend for my brother Josh's going away partay. Guess where he is moving?

Guess!

Did you guess Africa?

Don't lie.

Well, if you did you're wrong.

He's moving to South Korea. Why you ask?

He's going to be teaching English there for a year.

Oh I will miss him so.

Were looking at a 8000+ mile separation here. Blast!

My movie buddy, coffee fanatic, all together kindred spirit. Love you kid.

Bon Voyage.

First Post/Why everyone should own an overly large scarf.

This is my first post. Let's all be excited about it for the next five seconds. Ok, starting... now.

Five, Four, Three, Two, One. Were done.

I follow a couple blogs, though not officially, and have always thought they were interesting, but I had never really considered having one for myself. But with some encouragement from my homie Haley (after I creepily admitted to reading her blog), I have started one.

So, in honor of my christening into the blog world, and in honor of Haley's encouragement I am going to tell you all (aka my zero followers at the moment) something I think is very important to know about me:

I SHOULD NEVER BE LEFT ALONE WITH A WEBCAM.

(i bolded and italacized that... it's THAT true.)

This tuesday, when I should have been studying for my biology exam, I instead decided that I should skype attack everyone who was online.

Skype attack: (verb) when you call someone, and as soon as they see you on their screen, you do something weird like scream, or some dance moves, and then hang up.

Now, I decided that my weird thing would be to call people wearing a turban. Random?? I know. That's just part of my charm I think.

My turban obsession started about a year ago during cheer practice. You see, I was not what one would call very, uh, studious at practice. Instead of learning cheers or dances, I would walk around and distract everyone with my imitations of cartoon characters- Mr. Crocker from Fairly Odd Parents was a favorite of mine- and my other antics.

So one day I was wearing a scarf- a big scarf.

And somewhere through the course of practice it had ended up wrapped around my head.

So me, weird old me thought "Wow, this is the coolest thing EVER." And on this particular practice we were in Coach Sharp's classroom.

Coach Sharp's classroom= stapler, tape, paperclips. Aka, some sort of device that would hold my scarf in place so I could wear it like a turban while "learning" the dance.

I walk over to Sharp's desk fashion myself the turban, and casually walk back into formation.

It was only a matter of seconds before everyone had noticed, and wala!, I distracted everyone on the team...yet again.

Sharp couldn't even be mad though because it was so funny.

So, back to present day. Me. Bored. Out of my mind. In my dorm room. Looking for any sort of distraction from the cardivascular system i was taking notes on. And somehow that magical scarf ends up around my head again.

I look up on my computer. I see the camera. I look down on my toolbar. I see the Skype button.

You can probably figure out the rest.

When I told my friend Haley about this activity of mine, she assumed I was drunk. I wasn't.

This is just what happens for me when I have a scarf and a webcam.

I am surprisingly good at entertaining myself. I was no longer bored. No, in fact I was more energized than ever.

Till we meet again....