48 Hours to Go

I am off in less than 48 hours and I feel as prepared as I did a month ago. I really have not got much new news to report. I am trying to map things out, but leave them open. A kind of struggle I hope will be more enjoyable when I have people recommending places to go, see and stay.

I have to be honest, school starts on Monday and I have never felt better. I mean I have no stress or worries at all. Perhaps it is the lack of lesson plans or worries about the student body, or the crazy hoops that teachers would be made to jump through, but I feel good.

My sister will not be able to join in for my birthday so I will be off, in Italy, alone and I cannot wait. I think I will be visiting Torino. Why Torino? Well, Rome is too far away, Venice is too expensive and Torino is on the way to Germany. What is there to do there...I have no real idea. I am hoping to just explore.

I hear that Munich is lovely and am excited to visit, despite not knowing a word of German...okay without knowing three words of German. I will be able to be there about a week and meet up with Justin for a fancy hotel for about three nights.

I bought a Eurail pass for France, Italy, and Germany. Perhaps it was not the best idea for a couple of reasons: 1) I have read that in some instances it will not save you money 2) I will be recieving it on Tuesday...please note I am leaving on Monday. I guess it will be shipped to France by mon papa.

I am waiting to hear back about being placed for my French family but hope that it is somewhere good. I am still not sure if I want to take the immersion classes or not, they are expensive and I will be immersed...but it is different. I will have to ponder this some more.

My letters of recommendation, application and even doctor's notes have been sent in for a small family run farm (not really kibbutz) about 10 minutes from Tel Aviv. Of course there was drama about the doctor's note, since I was not there, but I was checked out in December so I was cleared.

I decided that although I still am unsure of the exact items that will be in my backpack, I will bring a laptop. Just got a new mini one for emails, blogs, and skype. Perhaps a phone will be purchased, perhaps not; at least some form of communication will be possible.

I said my goodbyes to almost everyone I wanted and am getting ready to hold on tight. The next blogs that I will be posting will be stories and thoughts, hopefully more exciting than what you have been reading up on thus far!!