Traveling fever

I spent most of today listening to a departure orientation about the practical issues related to going on an exchange and I have to say it was an intense package of information. My head is bursting with things to remember and after only four hours of sleep last night, I am really having trouble with wrapping my head around it all.

Most of all the fact that I'll travel to the other side of the world for five months, like seriously, what the hell. It is both absolutely amazing and terrifying, which is exactly why I have to do it.

Today made me think a lot about how much there is that I have to find out. Cultural differences are not just a tiny detail I can claim to tolerate, it can be a huge deal, at least in the beginning. Everything will be different, things will function differently and people will have different ways of living. I am wondering about weird stuff, for example the phone numbers in Peru. They are totally different, right? Also, using money will probably mess with my head for a while. The weather, definitely, I guess it might get a little hot for a Finnish person out there. Living in the summer when it actually is winter is also going to be a nice addition.

I have to get a visa, a credit card, really creepy-sounding vaccinations for some strange tropical diseases that sound so scary that I am more than willing to get vaccinated. I am really excited about getting the plane tickets, I know I will experience a moment of hysteria / horror when clicking the button "book".

I wonder how soon or whether I will get an overdose of Spanish. I can hardly imagine such a situation, but I've noticed that when I am even a bit tired, Spanish gets harder for me to understand as it takes a lot of energy to be so alert and concentrate all the time. That's a thing they mentioned, though, we should expect to be tired due to the surrounding foreign language. It'll be interesting, though, and very educational.

I really can't wait for next spring but on the other hand, I'm also happy that I still have a year to freak out about all of this.