Vive La France!

So I think it's finally starting to sink in that I'm going to go to France for 4 weeks this summer. I'm scared shitless. In fact, you know how most people say they're scared, but more excited? I'm not. I'm just scared. The fear has sunk in, but the excitement hasn't. Typical.

The good news is, since I decided to go a few weeks ago, I've actually been paying attention in French class since I know I'll actually use this information (unlike most of the shit I have to learn since I chose good ole Longwood and its liberal arts).

This may sound silly, but what keeps me up at night (literally) about this whole France thing is the plane ride. Isn't that ridiculous? I hate flying. I used to love it as a kid (except when it would hurt my ears). I flew all the time. We went to Disney World every other year and other trips all the time since my dad had a shit ton of frequent flyer miles. Then he left that job. Then 9/11 happened. In all of that time span I guess I grew up and started watching more movies/TV shows (coughLOSTcough) with graphic plane crashes. All of that mixed together = scared shitless.

This will also be my first time going across the big, bad Atlantic Ocean. And this will be my first time flying with people who aren't my best friends or family. It may sound juvenile, but it helps me to hold someone's hand. Also, if the plane does crash, I'll bet it would crash on the LOST island. Then at least I can have a friend/boyfriend/family member to run from the Black Smoke Monster with. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I guess what it comes down to is that no one has control of when or how they die (unless you commit suicide... but I'm not going to do that). So if I was so scared of flying that I would skip out on this one in a lifetime opportunity to study abroad, then I might as well lock myself in my room and never venture out into the world again for fear of some other kind of freak accident.

France is going to be awesome. Scary too. But more awesome than scary. I know enough French to survive without being mute for 4 weeks, and I'm hoping to be close to fluent by the time I get back. I'm sure this won't be the only time I blog about this, and I think I'll set up an entirely different blog for when I actually go so I can tell everyone I know at the same time that I'm OK instead of writing/calling/e-mailing 40 separate people the exact same thing. A la prochaine!