One last American day

Hey, how's it going?

I depart tomorrow. I depart tomorrow. I depart TOMORROW...

I can't believe that this trip is finally HERE. I have been planning it for a year and a half now, and I can't believe it's TOMORROW already! I've had a wonderful time at home these past few weeks... including a surprise "Happy Birthday / Bon Voyage" party last night from my family and friends. It was absolutely wonderful to have everyone together and see some Bluffton friends whom I hadn't seen much since school let out and won't see for a while longer. But let me tell ya, the "goodbyes" are the hardest part, or as I was corrected last night, the "see you laters." I am completely excited right now. Very very excited, just sad to say "see you later." I have such wonderful family and friends, and they sure make it hard to leave them for a few months! But I am so excited for what is to come as well!

I am planning on doing a few things in each country to be able to compare and get a better idea of the world in its entirety.

• I will take a picture looking out my porthole in each country, with the porthole as a frame.
• I will take a picture of the cuisine.
• I will take note of their bathroom style (sort of gross... but still interesting, eh? lol)
• I will try to find a music gathering and video record part of it. 
• I will use that country's greeting in my blog post (note my American ones so far :) )
• I will ask about how they view people with disabilities. I am wanting to work with this population as a career, and I find it very interesting about how the idea of a "disability" is much more culturally-defined than we realize. I'm excited to be able to compare it across the globe. 
• I will share my adventures and the things I find most interesting!

My sister introduced me to a song while I was in China that explained my feelings during the experience. The song has become my theme song for preparation and as I start my adventures on SAS. It is called "The Perimeters of Me" by Dividing the Plunder (now called Ellery). 

Perimeter of Me 

Your wind is mighty - it bends the backs of trees

Moves among the fields along these Pennsylvania streets

We've come to know as highways - they can take us anywhere

But all we know is where we're going

And how fast we're getting there

Well, the world outside my window is shaming me again

With the things I haven't seen cause I've been writing about them

The sky's a waiting witness to the truth I would possess

But I've forgotten all its mystery in my quest for second best

And I want to live with wider eyes,

There's far too much to see

To think of nothing else

But where I've been and where I'll be

I've been longing for the freedom

That is waiting silently

In the life that's just beyond the small

Perimeter of me

Your rain is mighty, it weathers mountainsides

It raises the Ohio 'til it looks a mile wide

And I think that I have crossed it on this bridge a thousand times

And haven't even seen Your river from the corner of my eyes

Well, I'm frightened by how easy it can be to live so long

Going from one thing to the next thing,

To the next 'til months have gone

And you realize you have really not done anything at all -

At night you fall asleep believing

You've just climbed so you could fall…

And I want to live with wider eyes,

There's far too much to see

To think of nothing else

But where I've been and where I'll be

I've been longing for the freedom

That is waiting silently

In the life that's just beyond the small 

Perimeter of me

And I don't believe that who I am 

Is something I can find

It's whatever I create

With what I do with all my time

It's who I choose to love

With all my heart and strength and mind -

And whether I believe that what I have

Is really mine…

And I want to live with wider eyes,

There's far too much to see

To think of nothing else

But where I've been and where I'll be

I've been longing for the freedom

That is waiting silently

In the life that's just beyond the small 

Perimeter of me

I'm ready to widen my eyes... to see beyond the small perimeters of me... 

Here I go :)