Tuesday, July 15, 2014

No Longer Jailbait

Since my last post, quite a few things have happened:
  • I have found out my first host family! They are truly the sweetest people and I love them already. My host dad, Christian, is the President of my Rotary Club and works for the European Union. My host mom, Lene, works as a legal consultant in Viborg. I have an older host brother named Rasmus who is attending university in Aalborg. I have another host brother named Simon who also be going on exchange through Rotary to Massachusetts. Finally, I have a host sister name Signe who will be attending the same school as me, although we will be in different grades.
  • I got my flight itinerary and freaked out. My flight takes off August 8th at 10 PM. I first fly eight hours to Amsterdam. Wait three hours, then board my plane to my final destination: Aalborg. Upon being picked up by the Rotary "welcome committee," I will hop in a car, drive an hour to arrive in Viborg, where I will start my new life.
  • On July 1st, I put in my 23 day notice at Applebee's. While most people would have put in a two weeks notice, I got my flight information, got overwhelmed with excitement, and decided that everyone needed to know when I am leaving for Denmark.
  • I turned eighteen! Hence the title "No Longer Jailbait." I am now a legal adult, I have voting rights, and most importantly, I can set foot into a casino to gamble my money away. 
  • For my birthday, I took a 36 hour trip to Chicago with a few of my best friends. This trip was mainly to visit the consulate and get my visa application turned in; but we did get to do a little shopping and sight seeing while we were there.

With 24 days left until I leave everything that I call normal, emotions have been running rampant. One moment I am having the uttermost excitement, then the next I am panicking about something minuscule. These moods swings are sure to get worse as the closer I get to departure, but no matter what, nothing is going to stop me from getting on that plane.

 
Brittany, Sam, and I in Millennium Park, Chicago.