Leaving on a jet plane

In 5 days' time, I will be in the UK.  From then on, I'll be staying for one year.

The entire process of preparing for the trip was stranger than I imagined it to be.  For someone who didn't like lists, I started making a ton of them and checked them off religiously.  I met up with all sorts of people, and found that some of my acquaintances should actually be my friends.  I realised that keeping in contact isn't that hard to do.  I have a ton of letters that I will be writing to everyone.

I also realised that packing up your life into suitcases is hard.  Even though I'm only going to be there for just 1 year, the things that I will need are quite surprising.  The decisions that I've made in what to bring - gadgets, creature comforts and all that - have been very interesting.

I expect to travel.  I've been told that I ought to visit Belgium, and I am definitely going to visit Paris.  A lot of the students want to go to Amsterdam, though I'm not quite sure what the attraction there is.  I might go to Vienna, or visit Italy again.

Or I might just take endless walks and train rides all over the place.  Rambling is a good pasttime, and Cambridge looks like a fun place to walk around.  I am sure that there will be things to do there.

Plus my family says they want to go back to Leicester to take a look at how it has changed since we've been there.  It should be exciting.