14 days

I now have my ticket, a new pair of shoes, and not much else. I'm about to remedy that, though; Wednesday is shopping day! The closer I get to departure, though, the more excited I get. People keep asking me if I'm nervous, but I'm really not (other than having a seat near a stranger person(s) who'll fall asleep on me). I'm very calm about this, like it's just something I'm supposed to do and I'm ready to do it. This is the biggest adventure I've ever been on, and I am SO excited. No nerves at all. Two weeks from right now, I'll be in Chicago (never been there before either) in O'Hare airport, waiting to board the plane to Dublin. But first I get one more week at home, then a relaxing week at the beach with my family. Life doesn't get much better than this!

T-minus 18 days...

Until I depart. In 18 days, my plane leaves for Dublin; we'll be in Ireland for 20 days. We spend the first week in Dublin, then head down around the southern part of the island, up to the Aran Islands and Galway, to Belfast for 4 days, and back to Dublin before we fly home. I'll post more details about which cities & towns we visit along the way, as well as a chronicle of my adventures. At this point, I'm not sure how much internet access I'll have, but I'll try to post as often as possible.

But I'm not in Ireland yet, so my life is consumed with preparation. Last night, I got my money straightened out; now I just need to change some to Euros and put the rest in traveler's checks. I still need clothes, and (the most important thing to me) books for my flights. My other project is working on my drawings, since that's a part of our grade. I also have to do some preliminary work on my final project AND my CORE 200 project. Only 18 days!!!!