In my dream the other night, I was in France and my French sucked.

My accent was so American and I did not sound like I had been studying French for 11 years. A few nights ago, I had a dream where I was finally teaching, but my students were so difficult and it was frustrating. I swear, most of my dreams would cause anxiety attacks in real life.

So in exactly 2 weeks I'll be in France! I'm super excited and also a bit nervous. This has all seemed so surreal. When I first found out that I had been accepted into the program, I was so excited, but a small part of me was afraid that somehow it might fall through or that I might get an e-mail that said "Oops, just kidding... we didn't mean to send this to you!" I received my arrête (contract) in July, which was physical proof that this was really going to happen, but it still felt surreal to me. I have friends who said that I didn't seem excited enough when I found out in April and who sometimes seem more excited than me. Honestly, I don't think it'll really kick in until I get on that plane... or until I step into France.

All that's really left to do is buy a few essentials and pack. Well, and get some traveler's checks. I'm such a pack rat so this is going to take a while.  Even when I pack for a weekend out of town, I pack too much. I always tell myself that I might need that particular shirt or I might decide to wear another pair of shoes instead. Once I think I'm "fully packed," I will probably go through everything and take things that I really don't need. Also, I have to keep telling myself that I'll buy things while abroad, so I'm going to need room coming back (whenever that is!).

I know this isn't really super interesting yet... but just wait! 13 more days until I finally get on that plane!