Nervous Anticipation

That's the best way I can think of to say how it feels to be going to Taiwan. In three days I leave the country for a minimum of 2 years. I'll live in a place where I know absolutely no one, have never visited before, have no place to live (yet), work a job for which I have minimal experience, in an industry of which I know nothing. I wasn't nervous until this last week. Then I realized that I will be gone from family and friends for a long time and I'll be in the uncertainty of a foreign land. I guess the saddest thing about going into the unknown is not having my friends there with me.

At the same time I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Since my junior year I knew that after I graduated that I wanted to go to Asia. Despite my mom's worries about money and all I feel ready to do this. I have always liked to be independent and find new adventures and that is exactly what this is. At the same time, I'm sure at 3:20pm on Sunday when I walk into the PDX security checkpoint I will be downright scared. But that's the best thing in the world since cool experiences that make you grow are never easy. And that's the real reason that I'm doing this--the experience. If I travel half as much as the company let on (maybe a bit less now since it was too big of a pain to get a Chinese visa) then I will be having tons of cool experiences.