Journal Excerpt

Day 182. 58%. A little over 4 months to go.

The weather's been fantastic lately. Cold, but sunny. Yesterday I explained to Ellie (the new Australian girl) that the lack of cloud cover, in fact, contributes to the cold because there is nothing to hold the heat in. Wit hthe weather has come a coorosponding warming of mood. It seems unlikely that, at this point, it's going to be cold and rainy and snowy again before summer. In the words of the acanonically named Stumpy, "This is no thaw. This is spring!" Four months doesn't seem so long, especially considering I've already made it six. Well, almost. The official six month anniversary is on the 15th. Doubt not that it will be met with much rejoicing. As of today, I am optimistic. Next week I will be off skiing with church people, and in one month tomorrow I will be headed off to rome! While I'm not nearly so anxious to leave when the sun is shining, i'm still not in love with this place. Seriously, I can think of maybe a day or two worth of fun to be had here. Anyway, I do not want to live here or even stay longer than I am planning. Really ,as soon as the farewell weekend is over, I am out of here. I think I'll wear my black pants and ballet flats on the plane, probably with my switchfoot shirt. Confy and easy to get shoes on and off, and probably would look halfway decent after beingslept in. I'm worried about the packing- fitting everything in the suitcases will be a challenge. I might give Ellie my big coat, as she has another winter to get through here. I don't really want it, and it definently won't fit in my suitcase. We'll see. I'll probablky have to give away lots of my stuff. I don't really know what, exactly, though. Probably my crappy jeans that I bought here. Actually, nobody would really want those, they're so beat up. Dang, though, I have a lot of books. that might be a problem. I don't know. W'll find out when I move to my last host family.