Goodbye, Minnesota!

It is absolutely crazy to think that I have already been in Brazil for five days. Sometimes it's hard to grasp the reality that I'm in Brazil at all. So far, it has been an absolutely incredible journey. But I'll start at the beginning when it wasn't so incredible. I'll admit, leaving was HARD. So much harder than I expected it to be. It didn't really hit me until the morning of the day before I left. When I woke up, it suddenly became clear that I would be leaving everything I ever knew for an entire year. This, on top of the fact that I hadn't started packing yet (shout out to all future outbounds - this is a bad idea! Start packing sooner!), made my last day in Minnesota incredibly stressful and overwhelming. The most frustrating part was that I wanted SO badly to be excited, because I thought that was how I was supposed to be feeling. Instead, I was overcome with anxiety. I began to doubt whether or not I was actually capable of handling such an immense change in my life. I had no way of visualizing what my life would be like in Brazil, and this scared me. There was so much that I would be leaving behind, and there was so much that would change in a year's time. The largest of these things was the selling of my childhood home. I had, and continue to have, no idea where I will be living once I return to the states. Carrying all of these negative thoughts, packing became nearly impossible. Luckily, though, my amazinglovingsupersupportiveincredible parents came to the rescue. There is no way I would have been able to get on the plane in time without their help and support the night before. My dad set to work preparing all of my electronic things, while my mom began organizing my belongings so that they would fit into my suitcases. With this, I woke up the next morning feeling prepared and (finally) excited. This was a huge relief. Of course saying goodbye to my parents at the airport was emotional and tear-inducing, but all the while I knew there was another loving family eagerly awaiting my arrival in Brazil. Once I passed through security and waved my final goodbye, I took a deep breath and... adventure time!