South Africa

It's kind of crazy how quickly life changes. One moment I was in the training room in Ann Arbor doing rehab and here I am now in Toronto, Canada getting ready to fly to London. The fact that life changes so quickly is thrilling. One year ago, there is no way I'd have said that in a year I'd be flying to South Africa for one month. It makes me excited to think I have no clue where I'll be next year...even next week!

The thing is, not every moment is going to be easy. I'm currently feeling pretty alone, and it's scary. I tried facetiming my parents, but the wifi in the airport isn't working, so I'm stranded. Thought I'd listen to music and walk around to pass the time, but I realized I only downloaded three songs. This actually makes me laugh because the three songs I downloaded are "If I Can't Have You" by Shawn Mendes, "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston, and "Island In the Sun" by Weezer. Some jammas! In London I'll try to expand my repertoire assuming wifi works. So pro-tip: download music *before* leaving for a trip. I'm so excited to be in London! It's crazy!!!

I really don't travel that much, but today I feel like I've gone around the world. My dad picked me up in Ann Arbor (I'm so thankful to have started this journey with him), and we drove across Ambassador Bridge. Once in Canada we visited London, Paris, Woodstock, and right before reaching the airport (where I'll actually be going to London, we ate sushi (so basically went to Japan, too). On our car trip, the song "Africa" by Toto came on and my dad was like, "Hey, it's your theme song" . That made me smile. I swear I'm going to live and survive through music on this trip; it understands me, especially when I'm feeling so alone.

Tangent time -- Canada is SO much more different from the United States than I expected...and I think I like it *insert thinking face emoji*. So to start, they have windmill farms everywhere! I really like that. On a similar note, they have recycling bins next to every trash bin - even along the freeway at the rest stops. I'm so impressed with Canada's sustainability initiatives. They also have reasonable portion sizes. Snacks are not in share size (thank god because I'm sick of eating for two) and the drinks are smaller as well (ok, not gonna lie - for me with drinks, it's "the more the merrier").

Well, time for me to board! Next stop: London!!

Here I am, about 5 days aways from when I'm meant to fly off to a completely different continent all by myself. When I tell people I'm going to South Africa for a month, everyone comments on how exciting it is and how much fun it's going to be. Something no one ever comments on is how lonely it can feel. Don't get me wrong; I have no doubt this is going to be an experience of a lifetime. I feel so far out of my comfort zone, though. Getting to South Africa itself is two days. That's two days I will be completely isolated from anything familiar. Right now, that makes me feel lonely. I'm aware that my emotions are anticipating an event that hasn't even happened yet, but I still don't know how to reassure myself. I think all I can do at this point is ride the wave and trust that this discomfort I'm feeling will lead to growth.