I'm leaving tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow at exactly this time, my plane will be departing for Kathmandu, Nepal. After more than 24 hours of travel time (including a layover), I'll be in a country that 6 months ago I knew nearly nothing about. I'm incredibly nervous and incredibly excited. I really have no idea what to expect. I don't think any amount of research can possibly prepare me for what I'm about to experience.

So for those of you who stumbled upon this blog by accident or don't know my whole back story, I'll give you the cliffnotes version. For the past two years, I've studied music (oboe) at Carnegie Mellon University. It didn't really work out. I made some amazing friends and had some fun, but music wasn't right for me and I didn't feel like I could find the liberal arts education I wanted. I was feeling really burnt out and I didn't feel like I could just start of running at a new school the next semester. Plus, the deadlines for transfer applications had passed. Also this past semester, my 36 year old sister in law, Kiersten, passed away after a 6-year struggle with cancer. So, I did what every part of my body was begging me to do: Go as far away as possible and try to have some amazing adventures along the way. So, I'm taking the year off and traveling all over the world, and by then, hopefully, I'll have successfully applied to transfer and will begin at another school.

Here's my itinerary:
Aug 26-Nov. 6: Nepal- for 2 months I'll be living with a family in Kathmandu and doing volunteer work in a Rehabilitation Center for children under 10 who have HIV/AIDS. After the 2 months, I'll be touristing around the country, including a week-long Trek to the Sikles region.
Nov 7-Nov 16: Egypt- I'm on some group trip to see the sights. It was cheaper to layover here than to fly directly from Kathmandu to Tel Aviv.
Nov 16- May 17: Israel- I'll be traveling around for a month and then working on a kibbutz/studying Hebrew for the next 5.
May 17- ?: Italy. This will involve an archaeological dig. I'm not sure what else.

I've recited this itinerary about 50,000 times by now. It's almost boring to talk about it. I'm so comfortable reciting my shpiel about where I'm going and what I'll be doing there. But I feel totally unprepared to actually go. It's totally unreal and I'm a little worried that I'm getting myself in over my head. I guess that's part of the point though. You never know what you're capable of until you test your boundaries. Totally corny, totally true.

That's pretty much it for me tonight. Tomorrow night, I'll be off with a backpack filled with the amount of clothing I usually bring for a weekend away. Packing light, baby. But anyway, I'll try to hit an internet cafe at least once a week to update this blog.

Wish me luck!!
-Jenn