I went to the airport today to drop off my uncle (his visit went by way too fast!!!) and it’s crazy to think that in eight days I’ll be back here, except this time it’ll be my overstuffed suitcase that’s getting on a plane to Europe.  The last few weeks have been filled with an obscene amount of packing lists, to-do lists, and every other kind of lists, finding out my housing placement (I was placed in my first choice, the Outdoor Living & Learning Community!!!), reading every page of the DIS website eight(teen) times, not one but two spontaneous trips to the county fair, long drives with loud country music, FaceTime calls with my friends currently abroad, many games of Yatzhee, and—most importantly—lots and lots of puppy snuggles.

This summer absolutely flew by and yet it seems like moving out of good old Palmer Hall happened a hundred years ago.  Between assistant teaching, interning, and traveling it’s been a jam-packed summer, but the telltale signs that summer is coming to an end are here: Target’s school supply section is slowly but surely taking over the entire store, my friends are starting to move into their dorms at Wake soon, my classes have been color-coded and added to my trusty Google calendar, and I have finally chosen what stickers to put on my new planner for this year.  Oh yeah, and I’m coming to the realization that I move across the world (semi-temporarily) in eight days.

In eight days I’ll land in Copenhagen (here’s to hoping I’m not jinxing myself for flight delays or cancellations), I’ll get to my house, and I’ll meet my roommates and the rest of my housemates.  Soon, I’ll start to learn Copenhagen and greater Denmark and maybe pronounce a few Danish words correctly (but probably not).  I’ll travel to Germany, Norway, England, Sweden, and more.  I’ll immerse myself in my classes.  I’ll celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving and the first time I make it to and from school by myself without getting lost.  I’ll create and familiarize myself with a new routine.  I’ll make friends.

And, hopefully, Denmark will start to feel like a new home.