Only 2 Weeks (Plus a Little)

I am slowly and surely packing. I went out and bought a whole bunch of new, warm clothes. Well, as warm of clothes as you can get in California. Anyway, I pretty much have all of my clothes ready. I bought these really cool socks that go all the way up my legs. They're amazing! Let's see, new pairs of long pajama pants, 6 long sleeve or turtle neck short sleeve shirts, underwear, socks (about a million new pairs), some regular shirts (hey, $8 at Target), some dorm shoes...and long pants. Yep! Plenty of new clothes but they are definitely a lot cheaper here than they will be in Scotland.

I've also bought a few new cooking things. I got a vegetable peeler that goes on your finger. :D I think it's the coolest thing in the world. Well, besides my collapsible strainer.

My large bag is half way packed. All of my jeans and long sleep pants are packed and so are most of my long sleeve shirts and sweaters. My socks too and other underwear. I'm waiting to pack up my little suitcase until after this weekend when I go down to visit my mom and step dad. But I really think I'm going to have enough room for everything! Including my pictures! That's a big relief for me.

On another note, I got a call from my first puppy's new partner's wife asking me what I ate. I told her I ate everything really, but that I was a vegetarian. I think I said something along the lines of I'm not really that picky and she said well, you're a vegetarian. That's pretty picky. I thought that was hilarious! But seriously, I really do eat almost everything...except meat.

Anyway, I'll post pictures of my last two weeks here. Most of these two weeks will be spent with Rocco. I think I might miss him the most. That sounds weird, but I've really grown attached to him. He's such a goober and I have no idea what I'm going to do when I'm in my littler dorm room all alone...with no dog. I've had a dog all my life. I mean ALL my life. It's gonna be the biggest change of all I think.

Packing It All Away

It's less than a month now until I leave...I can't help but feel like I'm really not trying anymore. You know, two weeks ago I was getting everything ready. I was packing, storing, and doing all of the college stuff like paying tuition and registering. But now I'm not really doing anything. I still really want to go still! Don't worry about that. I'm definitely still going. But all of a sudden I feel like I belong here. When life smacks you across the head with something are you just suppose to ignore it? I mean, I've been slapped across the face with life and I can't ignore it.

For All the Harry Potter Lovers out There...

Yesterday I got my "freshman" packet. Basically it had my Freshers Week Guide, a list of things I need to get done if I haven't already (including how to pay fees and everything else that I spent weeks stressing about), and my advisor of studies appointment. All Freshmen have to go to a meeting with their Advisor of Studies within the first few days of being one campus. Mine happens to be the first day of classes (September 21) with my Advisor who works in the Celtic department. Guess what my Advisor's name is! Mrs. McGonigle!!! I can already tell it's going to be a good year. I'll let you guys know if she turns into a cat on me during our meeting. :)

Almost Done

Woohoo! I'm almost done with everything but packing.

I booked my flight times. I'm leaving September 15 and going down to visit my first GDB puppy who is now a working Guide for day before I leave the country. I have a wonderful gift for her and her new partner for her Second birthday (which is on October 11) and I'm so glad I get to give it to them in person. It'll be a month early, but at least I won't have to leave it in a package here with orders to ship it to them on the first week of October. Now I know that it'll get to them. :) Anyway, then I leave from there on the 17th and arrive in Aberdeen on the 18th.

And since I've made my travel plans I was able to book my seat on the free shuttle from the airport to the school on welcome weekend. They wanted flight numbers and arrival times and all that, so I was finally able to do that.

I've also almost finished registration. The UA has this interesting eRegistration page with the school crest in the middle. You click on the four separate corners of the crest to go on to a different part of eRegistration. My personal details are complete. YAY! I've registered on the University online community which means I have access to all computers on campus now and have my University email address. YAY! And I've paid for the semester. Funny store there. I tried to pay GBP 9,500.00 and it wouldn't let me transfer the money from my college fund to the school and I couldn't figure out why. It was driving me crazy! I was afraid that there was no money in my account anymore (ID theft! AH!) but there was. Then I was afraid the bank card wasn't working so I went to Barnes & Nobles and bought a drink with it, so it wasn't that. Then I realized that it was GBP 9,500.00 a year not a semester and it wasn't letting my pay for the whole year. So I paid my GBP 4,750.00 with no problem! YAY! Now the only thing I have to do is register for classes. For some reason when I click on that last fourth of the crest it doesn't take me to another page. I can't figure it out so I've emailed my overseas advisor (yes, she got back to me this morning after two weeks and after I had figured out where to go and what to do) and asked her if I actually couldn't register for classes until Freshers week. I also asked her how much I still owed for my accommodations. I paid the deposit, but I can't find out how much I still owe and that's a problem.

Now all I have to do is pack. I don't know if I'm emotionally ready to do that just yet. But my step-mom gave me a good idea. She said I should pack two things a day until the week before. That way the bulk is out of the way and I start slowly. I like the idea and will probably start today.

It's hard to imagine that in less than a month I'll leave my childhood town and move on to my "adult" life. Hey! I still sleep with a teddy bear. I can't be that grown up just yet. ;)

To Belong

So, I get this sinking feeling in my chest when I see people kissing in movies. I know that sounds weird, but I do get this pain. It's not because I'm really yearning for love or anything like that (though it would be nice). What I think it is is that those people must feel like they belong. Well, maybe not the actors but certainly the people they are suppose to be playing feel a sense of belonging. I've never really felt like I belong. Maybe I should explain.

You see, when I was little I was different. I could tell I wasn't really like my family (neither is my brother so I guess we belong together because we don't belong) but they're my family so i loved them. But I was and still am different from my family. No offense meant for either of my parents and their new spouses because it's not that I didn't feel loved. Quite the contrary. I'm a pretty clingy, needy person (at least I admit it right?) so my parents both gave me lots of love to make sure that I had the emotional stability that I needed. They didn't raise a girl who is afraid to go out on her own though. I'm very independent.

I know I'm not making any sense at the moment, but bear with me.

While I don't feel like I belong here, at my house, I do feel like I belong here, in my town. When I was 5 and headed off to school one day I started to cry. Now, I cry a lot, but my brother asked me what was wrong. I said that I didn't want to leave home. He laughed at said that wouldn't be for a long time and that I would probably feel a lot different when I was older. Of course he was the all powerful 8-year-old so I believed his wisdom. It's 13 years later and what do I feel?

I'M RIDICULOUSLY SCARED!!!

I'm asked all the time if I'm scared or nervous about going so far away from school. I also say no, but I'll let you in on a little secret; I am. I really am. I mean who wouldn't be? It's the same thing I go through every time I went to a new school. Will I make friends? Will they think I'm weird? I'm weird...I hope they don't think I'm too weird. It's really all the same thing.

I still don't want to leave home. Let's make this clear, I want to leave my house. What teenager doesn't? But my home means here. I have my life here and everything. I hope this makes sense to you. I don't fell like I belong here, but at the same time I don't think I can leave.

Well, obviously I'm going to leave...but well, I don't want to have to try so hard to belong again. I've just started to feel like I sort of, kind of, belong here. I don't know if I want to do that again...*heavy, exasperated sigh*

My feet are a little chilly, but I hear that's normal before taking a big step in a new adventure in your life.

Cooking Supplies

I bought some cool kitchen supplies today!

What is the flat, green thing?

Why! It's a collapsible strainer! Very good for baggage space.

And this seemingly small cutting board...

Is not so small! :)

I also bought a 2 quart cooking pot, but that's not nearly as exciting as the collapsible strainer. I thought that was soooooo cool. There were some pretty cool things at the store I went to today. There was a finger peeler. No, it's not used to peel our finger, though that was the image that went through my mind when I read it. It's actually a vegetable peeler that slips onto your finger and you peel it that way. I think that's pretty cool too!

So, I really want to start packing. But I still have a few things that I need to get. Pots and Pans are one of them and sheets for my dorm room bed. I'm not sure how long the bed is though, so that might be a problem. I had a realization this morning...I only have a month left, basically, until I have to leave. There we go, only one month. I have so much to do! I can't believe that I'm leaving so soon! Packing, flight, travels, selling, and tranferring...and registering! AH!

FREAKING OUT! Hopefully it gets better.

Luggage is Here!

I got a call yesterday from the place I'm buying my luggage telling me that my luggage had come in. I had to wait for the larger bag to come in. It's a different version of the smaller bag. The company stopped making the kind of bag that the smaller version is and modified it. I opted to take the smaller bag they already had even though they aren't exactly the same. It's because it has some orange on it and I kind of like the orange.

Here's the first bag.
This is the bigger bag.
The two of them together.

They don't look extraordinarily big, but they really are. And this way I won't be able to over pack which is something that I am prone to do. Now I really can only take the important things. Like clothes and other necessities. And hey! I can fit a puppy in them!

My Guide Dog Puppy in Training, Rocco, breaking in my new bags.
Hmm...I wonder if Guide Dogs would notice if a puppy went missing.
I had this great picture of him looking straight into the camera, but then my pet dog barked and Rocco wanted to know what was going on.

Well, now I can start packing up some clothes into the bags. I'm not going to be wearing my jeans here in 100+ degree weather. And my sweaters a things will go in there too. It's getting closer and closer to leaving time.

Packing and Registering and Flight Times Oh My!

So, I'm still deep in the packing process. I'm not getting rid of a lot of books so I asked if I could set up my bookcases and books in the spare bedroom and got the ok. So they won't be in boxes for the next few years. My luggage should come in any day now and as soon as it does I'm going to start packing up my warmest clothes and figure out what articles are ready to go on to the next person. I think I'll keep most of my shorts here and only take one or two pairs. What else? Hmm...Well, I'm going to soon buy sheets for my dorm room and a few pots and pans because they don't provide those over there for me.

I tried to register online for classes yesterday and that didn't work. So I emailed my overseas advisor and she hasn't gotten back to me. That probably means I won't hear from her until Monday, or I guess Sunday late. That's ok with me as long as get my classes all taken care of before I leave in a month.

My plane tickets are proving a bit of a hassle. My mom said that she could come with me to help me move in which is great, but she will have already started school and we're trying to find times that will work for both of us. Her boss is only letting her miss two days, three if there's a delay. I of course would love to leave from here so that I can go to my friends open house on Thursday. She's getting married and I'm bummed I can't attend the ceremony so I would really love it if I could go to the open house. But that means that my mom would have to take a train up here. I wouldn't mind leaving early, but she can't and says that she wouldn't mind leaving Thursday evening from LAX, but I would be thinking the whole time "I could be at K's open house to wish her well." And I really want to arrive on the 18th for welcome weekend so that there is someone there to get me to the school. Maybe I will leave that Thursday so I can take the shuttle to school without my mom. I stand a better chance at talking to classmates if she isn't there with me. I don't know...but I'm freaking out man!

Plane Tickets

Starting the hunt for plane tickets. It's not an easy ride through the jungle of prices and flight times and arrival dates. They jump out and attack you like wild lions, or tigers, or bears (Oh my!) There are a few things I would love to do before I leave. If at all possible I would love to go to my last puppy meeting on the 16th of September and I would also like to attend a wedding. But I know I won't be able to do everything I would like to do before I leave. I might just have to choose what's more important...and cheapest.

Hunker Down and Work

This past weekend was Fun Day up at the Guide Dog campus is San Rafael. It's a day where a ton of puppy raisers, breeder custodians, and real guide dogs and alumni come and gather in one place. Since this is a big deal for me, I've been putting off doing a lot of things like packing and getting plane tickets until this weekend was over. Now that it's over I'm really going to put my nose to the grind stone and work on packing my room and finiding flight times and...transferring Rocco. :( This is going to be a hard month for me. Not only do I have to pack away my childhood memories and somehow put my life into two suitcases but I also have to give my baby boy up.