dreams and goodbyes

At this point--with approximately 14 days until I leave--I have had 4 nightmares about packing or arriving. Usually I'm on the plane and realize that I have forgotten something, or we are getting ready to leave and I realize that I have packed all the wrong things. The most recent one however has been slightly more disturbing in that before Peace Corps was about to send us away they piled all the volunteers into this locker room and told us to strip down at which point they did the Shawshank spray us off with a fire hose and then douse us in powder. The even stranger part was that as we stood there naked, they said okay, now it's time to say goodbye to friends and family, and in came all our friends and family to say these tearful goodbyes as we awkwardly tried to cover ourselves. The dream went on in a much more not so strange matter except that I couldn't remember any of the volunteers names and so I felt bad. Regardless, it's reassuring to know that I'm not stressed at all about everything...haha. I actually don't feel too nervous still, at least not on a conscious level. : )

The biggest thing to note is that I finally made my trip to Ohio to say goodbye to most of my college buddies. It was a fantastic time and I pretty much held it together until I was driving away after my final goodbye. I'm definitely going to miss those girls. At the same time, I am so excited for this opportunity, and I know that this is exactly what a want and need. Still, it was really really hard to say goodbye--I'm hoping that it will prepare me for saying goodbye to my family and friends from home.