Mom, Dad, Anna, Jonathan, and I left Knoxville Tuesday morning at around 9:30 and drove up to Pennsylvania. We got to spend some time with our wonderful (great-great-) Aunt Libby, and her (also wonderful) daughter and son-in-law Christina and Jeff. We were able to help celebrate Christina and Jeff's 25th wedding anniversary, so we shared a really fun and delicious meal with them and some of their friends. It was great to have that time to be with family, both immediate and extended, which allowed me to forget about some of the worries of preparation and focus on things besides my trip.
After a lunch and some last minute preparations today, my family brought me to Akron to start the orientation. It was difficult to say goodbye to the family knowing that I won't see them for a year, and I can hardly believe that it will be so long, even as I write it. Orientation has been good, but pretty low-key today. All we've had is registration, dinner, a few "get-to-know-you" games, and then free time. It has been fun (although somewhat overwhelming for an introvert like me) to meet so many people from so many different places, but I don't feel like I've really gotten to know any one yet. I'm staying in a room (actually a bed) with another SALTer, but I haven't actually met her yet. So far things are exciting, but really surreal. I think most of us are just having trouble comprehending what life will be like and really getting a grasp on the fact that we are going to be away from home for a whole year. I know I am. Every once in a while I have these nervous glimpses of how uncertain things are and how long a year is, but then I remind myself how much preparation I've done and all of the things I already know and I calm myself down. Mostly everything just feels uncertain, incomprehensible, and scary. But exciting. Really exciting.
