Leaving (on a jet plane)

Dear Internet,

What is it about moving that always makes me feel like I need extras of everything? I'm leaving with my friend Chris on my road trip to St Louis tomorrow morning, so tonight I packed two packs of dental floss, five coffee mugs, an extra pillow, and far too many clothes hangers. As if they don't sell these things in other places.

But when it comes to dismantling the things that make my room at my parents' house feel like home, I find myself unable to take the posters, the map, the photographs down. My knickknacks are just the way I like them, thank you. I know my walls and shelves will be bare when I get to St Louis, but at the moment that doesn't matter as much as keeping my room here as a safe haven.

I feel like I'm going on a long trip or to summer camp, not moving out of the house for what is hopefully the last time. Not that I'm planning on staying in St Louis forever, but I'm just not planning to move back home after my time with AmeriCorps. I'm a grown-up now, I guess. It's weird.

Maybe part of the mental block I'm facing has to do with the fact that my job in St Louis isn't exactly what I picture as a "real job." Real jobs have cubicles and elevators and pantsuits. What I'm doing with AmeriCorps is officially volunteering, though a monthly stipend is provided to cover the cost of living. I'll be working with the Emergency Response Team (ERT), responding to natural disasters or other assorted calamities. We also do some environmental conservation work on the side, when Mother Nature is a bit less overexcited. I don't know a whole lot of details about this job (more on that later), but it definitely doesn't fit in with my office building image.

I'm glad to be taking this job and moving to St Louis - I feel like it's the right direction for me to be taking my life. But I don't know if I'd say I'm excited. Trepidation, yes; excitement... I'm not sure. I think I will be more excited when I get there, meet the other volunteers, settle into my apartment, and start training. Right now it's kind of overwhelming.

In the meantime, Chris (a friend from when I studied in Germany) and I will be road tripping our way to St Louis (for me) and Seattle (for him)! We leave DC in the morning for Pittsburgh, where we'll stay a couple nights with some of his friends through CouchSurfing (check it out if you haven't!), then on to Ohio where we will stay with our lovely friend (also met in Germany) Nadia and her son Tripp. On to Chicago (where we still need somewhere to stay... let me know if you have ideas!), then hopefully stopping in southern Illinois to see my friend Phil at the University of Illinois. Finally, St Louis, where we will meet up with our friend James (ALSO from Germany!) to hang out for a few days and (hopefully) get me all moved in. Phew! Then I start my first day of work on the 14th of September. Chris will probably hang out for a bit, then continue on his way to Seattle.

I can't believe I'm leaving in the morning... I better get some sleep before I wake up in six hours.

See you all in St Louis!
xoxo Liz