My final pre-trip entry - Golden, from here on in!

This will be my last entry before I leave, after that, any communication you get from me will be sent from somewhere not in the U.S. Crazy, innit? I'm so very excited, and I can tell because I keep sitting down with my book, then getting up again, pacing the apartment, checking how much time before I leave. Yeah, slow day. :) Yesterday was good, my parents drove me to Michigan City, I took the train in to Chicago without incident, and then the El to North Park, where I gave Katie the hat I knit for her (she likes it) and enjoyed some homemade chili for a late lunch and then some mac and cheese for supper. If Drew is reading this, you should know that I now understand why you would sleep on the couch - your mattress is terrible. Lol.
This morning I took my last American shower for the next two weeks, went through all of my things again to make sure I only had what I needed, and read some more in Brothers Karamazov. I was rather far behind on my personal winter break reading assignment, but I've made significant gains in the past 24 hours. And it really will be 24 hours, because I got here about 3:30ish yesterday, and I'll leave the apartment at about 3:30ish today.
I'll be turning in that book on Bemba that I got from the library (not much help, there was hardly any English in it, so I couldn't rightly figure what words I was learning), and then we're having a final team meeting before we are driven to the airport and have our waiting time. It's going to be quite a wait, I believe. Our plane doesn't leave 'til this evening, and rumors are that security will be extra tight. I can't say that I'm terribly worried about that, though.
Well, I'll leave it at that for now. I've got another half hour to waste before I leave the apartment, and I'm not going to force you to read for that long! ;)
I hope you all have a great weekend, and drive careful in that snow and ice, if you have it!

~Jaclynn

Another Pre-trip Entry

It's my last full, free day here at home, and I've put it to good use.

Today was full of taking care of little things, like clipping my fingernails, buying a battery for my travel clock, and buying some tagless tshirts so that I can wear them, flip them inside out, and wear them again. I'm all about packing light. :) I also got to spend some time with my friend Erin Cooke, who I don't see enough of, and who flew in from her study abroad semester in England just this Monday night... well, technically Tuesday morning, but whatever. It was great to see her and just hang out for awhile. Yesterday I got to hang out with my friend Shannon, who I also don't see enough of, and go out to see the awesome Avatar movie with her.
The majority of my day was spent packing. I unpacked and repacked twice today, and I've got less and less in that bag each time. My goal is to take as little as possible, and I'm sure I'll do it! I've hardly got anything in that bag, it seems. Maybe I could get rid of a bit more, yet, before Saturday. We shall see. I've got all my laundry done that I'm going to do, and I've really just got to work on my packing for school. Not sure yet if I'll be taking that with me on the train to Chicago, or if I'll be able to get a friend to pick it up for me. Again, we shall see. And of course, I'll have to weigh my bag real quick before we leave the house on Saturday, too.

Well, now I'm about to watch a movie with my dad, so I had better get going!

Until next time,

~Jaclynn

The Test (part 2)

Ok, so this is just to see if I've set everything up correctly. But if I did things right, this email will post to my blog, which will then post to my Facebook as a note, and then... well, then we'll be in business!! :) Before this all gets started, though, I should say for all you facebook users that if you're going to comment, I would much prefer that you comment on the actual blog, which you should be able to do if you click "view original post" underneath the note. The internet connection, I hear, is very very slow, so I'll only be checking my North Park email address while I'm gone because it takes less time to load, and I won't be checking Facebook because that won't be able to load at all, I'm sure.

So, to make this an actual, official entry in the blog, (something that's worthwhile looking at) I'll do a bit of actual blogging here. Last night I took my first malaria pill. It took forever to fall asleep (probably on account of the two-hour nap I accidentally took yesterday afternoon), and then I'm pretty sure I had a different dream every sleep cycle, at the end of which I either woke up or dreamt that I woke up each time. Needless to say, I woke up feeling very unrested. But so far other than that, and perhaps some funny stomach activity, the "bitter pill" hasn't been that bad.

My sister and brother-in-law came in this morning after a long drive from Colorado, and New Mexico before that. I'm excited to spend some time with them before I take off. My dear Erin Cooke will be arriving tonight after her semester study abroad in England, and I'm excited to see her again! :) We figured it out yesterday, I think, and I'll probably be taking the train from Michigan City to Chicago on Saturday sometime, so I've got five full days left in town. That means five days to see the people I want to see before I head out - but really only four days or three days because of the Christmas festivities. And somehow I have to do the other stuff I have to do, like write my Study Abroad application essays, pack for school, pack for Zambia, and some other stuff. So why am I still on my computer right now? I guess that means I'll be getting off now. :)

Until next time!

~Jaclynn

Test

This is just a test to see if I properly set up the email-blogging capability thing. I'm new to this, what can I say. :)

Pre-Trip Craziness

Just a brief entry to open this blog. In exactly one week I will be flying out from Chicago to London, then to Nairobi, then to Lusaka, and then boarding a bus to Ndola, where I have the amazing opportunity to spend two weeks loving and serving my Zambian neighbors. I can hardly wait. Preparations are underway. I'm mostly packed, since I had to pack my bag, for the most part, before I left campus since the majority of my stuff is there. But I'm thinking that I'll unpack and repack so as to have less stuff (and more room for souvenirs) in my bag.
I'm going to try and update this a few times before I leave, and at least a couple times a week while I'm in Zambia, and probably a few times afterwards as well. I just remembered that I have to start taking my malaria pills today. Oh joy. :)
Well, I'd better get going now, before I forget that very important detail.
Until next time!

~Jaclynn