So I'm sitting in Seoul, South Korea and I have an hour and a half before my next flight. It is currently 3:08 AM in the American Midwest and I have been awake for a full 24 hours now and I still have at least 6 more to go, if not more. My face feels gross, my hair looks worse, I think I ate something bad on the 14 hour plane ride from Atlanta to Seoul, and I'm sure I smell, though I'm wearing enough clothes to mask it for now. This is when I truly believe the saying "Travel is only glamorous in retrospect."
I'm starting to get a little nervous...I think the fact that I'll be there for a full three weeks is starting to sink in. One minute it doesn't seem like enough time at all, and the next minute I'm wondering what in the world will I do with myself. Or maybe I'm just wondering if my bag is going to make it...
12-9-2005 10:45 PM CST
TO DO:
(in no particular order)
Pull off a never-been-done-before writing workshop for pK-6th grade kids
Study for and take 3 tests
Turn in 1 paper, 1 journal (that I didn't know about), 1 evaluation, and 2 projects
Attend 2 meetings
Work 40 hours during finals week
Do the dishes
Contact people in Viet Nam
Pack to go home for Christmas for a week
Figure out how to fit three weeks of stuff into one bag
Find my marbles...
12-5-2005
A Girl and her Pack
Three weeks. Less than one month until I leave to take my first solo trip to another country: Viet Nam.
Am I excited? You bet!
Am I nervous? You bet!
Am I worried about bird flu? Nah. Mom's more worried than I am; but I will say, I won't be eating any chicken while I'm there.
For a day or two, I'll be staying with a Vietnamese family whose daughter goes to school at UWL with me. After that, I'll be roaming the countryside looking for interesting villages and people to talk to! The plan is to travel around the north for a week or so, and then take a train down to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in the south, hopping off to visit more cities and towns along the way.
Check my tentative itinerary to see where I might possibly be at any given time, and if you're wondering why I'm going to Viet Nam, of all places, and alone for that matter, check out the project summary. I hope to update as I go with journal entries and pictures along the way.
Happy Trails!
