Seven days until I leave for Paris. I keep saying it in my head and hopefully it will finally stick. Everyone keeps asking me “Are you excited?” and yes for sure I’m extremely excited! However, I also think Webster’s dictionary should create a word for that special pre-departure feeling that everyone seems to get. I tried looking online to find a word that exactly describes how I’m feeling right now but none exists. The main ones I found were travel anxiety, denial, and excitement.

I’ve been back home in the US for a while now, so it’s safe to say that I’ve settled back in. During my final days in Buenos Aires, I was excited to come back home, but still very sad about leaving a place I had come to love so much. After almost 5 months in Buenos Aires, it really started to feel like another home of mine, and a city I could truly say I was familiar with.

Taking a break from packing, I can’t help thinking about my upcoming journey that is about to start 12 hours later.
What in front of me right now are two suitcases waiting to be filled with my clothes, my camera, my notebooks and my new start in Freiburg, Germany.

I can’t believe that in less than two days I will be landing in Vienna! Time is flying, and it seems to be speeding up the closer it gets to my flight. I can’t wait to start the semester, to see where I will be studying and living, and to fully immerse myself in Viennese culture.

For the past few months, I have been bouncing between excitement and nerves in anticipation of the upcoming semester. I read something about Nantes and I am itching to be exploring the old, stone streets and be surrounded by the French language and culture that I have always admired and loved. Then I hear my friends at school discussing their plans for the spring semester and I can’t help but feel a bit… jealous? Is that possible?!

I always admire the people I see walking through airports with light luggage in tow. They seem to have it all together.  The ones who hold their boarding passes without dropping anything, breeze through the security line and don’t delay the rest of the plane when storing their carry-ons during boarding.

“The road was slick and wet and hot and we were tired.