I DID IT!

Well the best way to start this off is to say BLESS the young man at the check in desk for taking my overweight bag. You saved my life, and made my day a whole lot better. So the doorbell rang and it was the leggings I was waiting on to finally say I had everything I needed. I left for the airport at 3 pm and at exactly 2 o'clock I zipped up my suitcase. (Even though I have had the clothes all set out on the floor for the last 2 weeks), BUT thank the lord I decided to weigh my luggage just to be safe because the initial weight was 65 pounds. Let me remind you this doesn't include, sheets, towels, shampoo or conditioner, shoes, or ANY of my school supplies. In a panic I ran down stairs and made my dad come double check that i was using the luggage scale correctly because I didn't believe that I could have possibly packed 65 pounds of clothes... Well the luggage scale was correct. Dad gave me the advice of just taking out "a few shirts", but I don't think he understood "a few"shirts isn't going to make the bag drop 15 pounds. So I took out my patagonia, and some t-shirts that I thought I could part with for 124 days, switched all my make-up, vitamins, and random toiletries over to my backpack (which now weighs a good 35 pounds). But after 3 attempts of a guess and check I finally succeeded when the scale came out saying 49.3 pounds.... (YES the scale was wrong and I was still 2 pounds overweight is besides the fact).

I am currently sitting in Detroit airport waiting to board my flight to Amsterdam, and I'm feeling VERY anxious. I'm hoping my luggage doesn't get lost, I can get some sleep on the plane, and customs won't drill me with 20 questions when I'm running on only a few hours of sleep.

The last few days at home were bittersweet, got my favorite meals (even though they were both pasta meals and I'm sure I'll be eating some delicious pasta tomorrow) but it was also full of goodbyes. This morning my family got up early to go have our last family breakfast for awhile, there I said bye to Dena, then swung by my cousins house to give them one last hug, a quick goodbye from Alicia as she was running out to work, a rough goodbye to Bree as she left to go buy some last minute things to go off to College at Dayton (sad I'm missing her first semester of college), then goodbye to Louie (maybe better known as Mr. Fluffy), then the final drop off at the airport when I had to leave the parents... shockingly I didn't get any tears from them (Or at least I didn't see any).

Well it is now 8 hours later and I'm in Amsterdam airport. I went from Pittsburgh > Detroit, Detroit > Amsterdam, then FINALLY Amsterdam > Florence. Flight wasn't to bad but only two of my three wishes came true. I got NO sleep on the plane.... well maybe like an hour or so but that plane ride was the bumpiest ride I have ever had for at least 25 minutes. It was silent on the plane for quite awhile because i think everyone was having a sick stomach... especially the few people who were actually getting sick. But Im now happily back on the ground and waiting for my one last flight over to Florence to settle in for the day. HOPEFULLY I will get some shut eye on this 2 hour flight, but most of all I hope my luggage will be meeting me there as well! Once I land I'm off to get my apartment key and settle in my new home for the next 123 days. Well thats all for today!

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