Packing!

Hello all!

I'm super excited to be going to Orvieto in...  19 hours!  It feels extraordinarily surreal-- I can't be going abroad for an entire semester!  I keep telling myself to get ready and keep packing and taking care of everything I need to do before I go, but there's a little Tori in the back of my mind who keeps saying, "Who are you kidding?  You're not going anywhere!  Psh, yeah.  Orvieto, right.  Keep dreaming, kid!"  However, this evil mini-me is wrong, and I am departing too soon to be taking breaks!

I'm actually surprising myself by packing relatively lightly, especially because I am a horrendous over-packer...  But this is a good thing, and I'm attempting to ensure that I don't significantly add to the load over the next half-day.  I've been mentally packing since October, so it's kind of a relief to finally actually pack everything!

I may have told some of you about my usual pre-trip emotional state...  Until about 24-36 hours from my departure date, I'm in denial.  And then I panic.  This trip has been almost according to usual.  Until this morning it really didn't hit me that I'm going abroad for four months!  Aaand then I woke up this morning and realized that it was the 2nd to last time I'd do that for quite a while...  That set in the panic.  Lucky for me (and my family!), I was too tired to really panic and the rest of the day has been spent pretty productively, so until just now I haven't had time to consider this much.....  And now I'm beginning to panic again.

But I'm (very slowly) learning to trust God with all the events of my life, whether I think he can handle them or not, so I'm attempting calming breaths and a mantra of "Trust. Trust. Trust."  (Maybe it's working?)

I'd love to hear from you all as I give you updates on my time in Italy, and I'll do my level best to update you all about once a week.

Please pray for me if you don't mind, though!  Chicago is being hit with more snow!!!  You may not know, but Chicago was hit hard this winter and we got about two feet of snow.  And now there's more in the forecast that could interfere with my flight out to Dulles in Washington, D.C. (the flight that precedes the one to Rome)!  So I'd appreciate any prayer time you can spare!

I hope to update you all once I get to Italy!

Buon pomeriggio!

~Tori