I have my placement. My job, my boss. I have my housing. I have my plane ticket, my rail pass. I have my awesome purple netbook- a gift from my parents. I am physically prepared to spend the summer in Germany.
But am I mentally prepared?
This is my first trip all alone. I have never traveled on my own. Except for around the Owosso/Corunna/Durand area, I have never been somewhere without being driven or chauffeured. Sure, I hop on the bus and have traveled around the Ann Arbor/Ypsi area all the time. But in the comfort of my native language. In the comfort of knowing when the next bus is coming. With the comfort of a cell phone in hand. It's different in your home town(s).
Simple.
But traveling to a new state, a new country, a new continent- the game is completely different. It's like comparing solitaire (one deck of cards, one player) with peanuts (cross between solitaire and speed- many decks, many players, a game with many more rules). Traveling abroad is like taking a simple common game and adding many more players and challenges.
Okay, maybe my analogy is lacking, but it does explain my point.... really, it does. I have to be much more prepared for this trip than I have had to be for any other trip, on many more fronts, more decks of cards in the game.
One previous trips, I have not been the one in charge with planning or with securing flights and lodging. If I couldn't communicate with others, there was always someone with me that could. If something happened- like hurricanes (or, a very real possibility for this trip, volcanoes)- there was always someone to wait in line for me and take care of the arrangements that had to be made.
I've always had someone around to make sure that I didn't order potatoes (which, for those who don't know- I detest).
Therefore, I worry. Is my German good enough? When I travel in France and Germany, am I going to be able to get around on my own? Will I make all my connecting flights on time? Will I figure out the train routes? (and where exactly I want to go, but that's another story....) Am I going to be safe; will my belongings be secure?
But there are many positive things about traveling alone. I don't have to worry about how the whole group is going to get around. I don't have to go to the museums that I don't want to or on group tours. I can walk as slowly (or quickly) as I want to. I don't have to worry about where the group is going. Wow.... I can be as selfish as I want to.
This trip is about me.
And, of course, there's the worries I have once I get settled and started on my position. Will people like me? Will I be able to complete all the tasks I am assigned in a way that is pleasing to my superiors? Am I going to remember to make my bed every morning?
But, I still have time. I still have three weeks to study my German and French, three weeks to look at maps, read about different places and talk to people and their ideas and opinions- where they've been and the food they did (or did not) enjoy. I have three weeks to practice packing, and unpacking, my carry-on and three weeks to prepare myself mentally.
So that's what I must go and do now. Germany- see you in less than a month!
