Even as I'm sitting at the airport, it still hasn't hit me that I'm finally going to France. Maybe when I finally arrive and realize that I barely understand half of what people are saying to me, it'll be considered official. But until then, I sit here and wait.

The past few weeks have been kind of hectic. When you go overseas, there’s so much you’re leaving behind. There are the physical items, your friends and family, your financial obligations and more. I haven’t travelled internationally in over 8 years and I’ve never travelled this far alone. This is probably why my family worries about me so much. While I can’t wait to get away, they feel the need to call me every five minutes. I need time away from them before I actually start to miss them. I hope this trip will give me a chance to show just how independent I can be.

A few words of advice, packing last minute is a horrible idea; over packing is even worse. While procrastinating, I found out that rolling your clothes saves more space and with that logic I decided to bring even more things I didn't need. Two weeks of clothes and some toiletries don't seem like much but when you start lugging that giant suitcase around, you realize just how weak you actually are. Running around Boston with just my carry-on was already too much for me; I'm not sure how I'll fare in Europe once I get all of my stuff. We'll see. I was complaining about my unnecessarily long layovers for a while until my sisters brought to my attention the fact that I can use these layovers as an opportunity to travel. It's like having a trip within a trip. So during my 7-hour layover, I explored Faneuil Hall. I just went based off a recommendation from a friend and didn't realize how much of a tourist attraction it was. There are so many places to eat and shop it's almost overwhelming. To play it safe, I returned to the airport a few hours earlier. I didn’t get to see all that Boston had to offer but it was still worth it.

I was hoping to spend my long flights chatting up my fellow passengers about their travels but I was so tired I slept through most of them. The time I wasn’t sleeping, I spent enjoying the view, watching movies and eating. Despite the complaints about plane food, I thought it was pretty decent. I guess my French is pretty terrible because the staff would always reply in English while they spoke French to everyone else. Hopefully, by the end of this trip, I’ll become fluent enough that I lose the American accent.