Pre-Trip Jitters...

Well, after a long night spent anguishing over Margaret Hale and John Thornton, I finally did finish packing, and managed to get about four hours of sleep.  Oh, well.  Time well spent :)

I think I've got everything now, just waiting to head out with my friend Katie to L.A., where we'll be staying with her family until we fly out early on the 6th.  And when I say early, I mean heinously early.  We've got a red-eye flight to our connection in Beijing.  To quote a girl after my own heart, "Mornings are evil..."

For now, though, the biggest concern is packing.  I can check two bags for free (thank goodness), but I don't really want to unless absolutely necessary.  But since I've got my backpack the only carry-on bag that will be toting actual stuff (my other carry-on item being my ever-present, all-important camera), I'm wondering what to do...  I'll have to figure it out in California.

I'm so excited to finally see California.  Growing up on the East Coast, I think I was fed propaganda about how paradisiacal the West Coast was.  You know, the Golden Coast, pictures of the Napa vineyards, commercials starring the Terminator... How could I think otherwise?  I have this image in my mind of a huge metropolis which has access to the sea, no matter how far inland you are.  Which is dumb, since I've been to plenty of port cities before (Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Virginia Beach, etc.), and even at the more resorty type places, you can't see, hear, or smell the ocean.  But maybe California will be different.  After all, California is a magical place...

Besides the logistics of essentially moving for two months, and the worries of let-down dreams, I find it's hard to leave Utah.  I know, I know....Miss the-East-Coast-is-better-than-anything-especially-Utah is saying she'll miss this horrid desert.  Well, actually, I'll less miss the topography and more the people.  I felt the same when I left last spring, too.  I have a good life here, whether I admit it or not, and I'll miss my friends in my ward, at school, and especially my wonderful roommate Tiffani.  She's become one of my very best friends, and it's weird to think, after spending eight months constantly within five feet of her, I won't see her for eight weeks. o.O

I also feel kinda bad for leaving the apartment in the state it's in...  I mean, it's nowhere near as bad as last year, but...yeah....