I know I only had the last layout up for about a month, but I felt such a huge period in my life needed to be marked with a corresponding new look. I loved the mutation one, so don't be surprised if it goes back up as soon as I'm back stateside.

"New shoes, international experience, and savoir faire"... that's an inside joke I don't really know how to explain to you. Anyone at MC can ask Dan M. about it. But uhmm... one night at dinner, we concocted this scenario in which two high-profile, beloved professors on campus were embroiled in this lifelong feud, dating back to Studio 54 and all over one very dashing man... and... I know the chances of this are remote, but I refuse to go into greater detail here in the event any faculty members ever happen upon this page.

But let's just say, that what the one professor has that will ultimately best the other is (say it with me now), new shoes, international experience, and savoir faire.

You know, which is something I think all collegiate wannabes let loose in Europe really strive for.

And then, the letters are a mix of Dutch landmarks and trademarks, the color scheme that of the Dutch flag. The first person to correctly identify all the pictures gets a cookie.

Anyway. My plane leaves at 5:30pm tomorrow. Scratch that, it's 12:06am. My plane leaves at 5:30pm to-FREAKING-day.

Which... All right.

I thought I ought to write this really extraordinary diary entry to mark the occasion.

I thought, driving through town in my car for the last time, I ought to be deeply affected somehow.

And I thought my family and I ought to do something really special tonight.

But we're watching TV like we always do, just hanging out. My mom will be emotional in the morning and hysterical after I leave, but tonight feels like any other.

Couldn't muster a bit of remorse to be leaving this town again. What is there to be sentimental about? I'm leaving the country, the continent, but... so?

And as to writing a landmark entry on the subject, all I can say is this:

I already left this town two and a half years ago. Since then, I've just been visiting. This has been a particularly long visit which I am ready to end.

I stopped living with my family two and a half years ago. This is not my home. I haven't been homesick for a long time. I love these people, but I never mind being separated from them.

And more than anything else, this is the life I have chosen for myself. I want to travel, I want the road, I want new scenery and new faces and new feelings. This is what I want, and this is my first chance to have it.

So it seems like it should be a huge deal, but you know what, it's not. I'm not terrified. I'm not really even nervous. I am definitely in over my head, but I love that. I... what can I say? Nothing to say. This is what I do.

As I told Josh (although I have the distinct feeling I ripped this off of someone else): this is how we earn our credentials as citizens of the world.

Well? I've got a million last-minute things to attend to so I can't sit around here trying to make poetry out of the everyday. I don't know what my internet access will be like over there -- I don't know what anything will be like over there! -- but I will try to check in here periodically over the next several months. If nothing else, I'll be keeping a paper diary and I'll transfer it all to dland when I get back. So, we'll be in touch.

So! Take care! Have fun! Love yas! Aaaand... rock out.

L.