Bonjour, Geneve!

OK, so I have 11 minutes left on my  wifi card here at the hostel so this isn't going to be a long or truly insightful post.

My flight over was pretty uneventful... just a few bumps.  I got into the airport yesterday around 10:30 and met up with people from my group.  We all transferred to our hostel at 12:30 and have been undergoing orientation ever since then.  This mostly consists of signing a million papers (including applications for UN library cards and official UN badges for when we go in for lectures.  This may make me a nerd, but I'm super excited.) and then being set free to explore the city.

When we first got here, I was struck by how un-foreign it felt.  Sure, everyone is speaking a different language and it's greener than anything I know, but I didn't feel displaced.  I guess those trips to Argentina and China really got me acclimated...

In a similar vein, I was marveling about how few stares our group was garnering as we walked around the city.  However, this afternoon a ton of people from our group were saying that they were feeling a little disgruntled by the way everyone was looking at them.  Again, I guess it just doesn't compare to China that way!

But I'm not saying that's a bad thing.  In fact, it really makes me happy.  Because this means that when I'm moving through this city - which, by the way, I'm totally falling in love with - by myself, I will be free to experience it as a normal person, not as some tourist floating above it all.

Four minutes left of wifi!  Luckily I'll have internet at my host family's house.  I know this post was probably really scatterbrained, but the past couple days have been a major whirlwind.  I'll be sure to post again when I have the chance.

In short: everything here is incredible.  I miss a lot about home already, but hey, I had to leave summer behind sometime!  And really, the transition from the golden summer to fall semester could really be a lot worse.

Pre-Everything

Pre-packing.
Pre-reading
Pre-worrying.
Pre-missing.
Pre-departure.

In what a matter of a few short days, I will be stepping on an airplane.  This is nothing new, I feel like I spend a lot of time in airports and on airplanes.  Flying between my childhood home of Phoenix and my college home of Washington.  Flying to familiar places around the U.S.  Flying to Argentina, to China, to Italy.  Flying comes naturally to me.  Packing the suitcase, picking up the carry on, removing my shoes and small bottles of liquids for the x-ray machine.  It's all normal.  It's all so very second nature.

And so here I stand.  Scared out of my mind.  Nervous to step on that plane, but knowing that my strong-willed feet will carry me forward without a backwards glance.  Knowing that any fears of leaving the life I know will drop away the minute the plane hits the tarmac in Geneva.  Knowing that hesitation so easily becomes excitement in a second.  Knowing that my friends and family will be a world away and a heartbeat away.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that on the 24th, my mixed feelings (Maryn 1: "I don't want this golden summer to end!"  Maryn 2: "What is life without adventure?  Man up, Johnston.") won't matter any more and will probably resolve.  As much as I'm scared to leave this moment, I'm ready for the next one.  And as soon as my feet carry me through the airport and onto that plane, nothing but the adventure will matter.  All the "pre" will fade away as past and future become present.

Bring it on.  I'm ready to fly away.
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