Allons-y!

You might have guessed it, I'm off. I've left my life back at security and am sitting, waiting for my flight to board. It won't board for another hour and fifteen minutes approximately so I guess I'll be here a while.
I keep waiting for it to hit me. I'm leaving. I'm gone. Even as I was leaving my parents I kept getting that feeling like "oh, I'll see them again soon" and I kept having to tell myself that I wouldn't. I almost wanted it to have been more momentous. There should have been epic music playing in the background, the camera would focus on my mom, tears in her eyes. I would say "I love you guys" as a sob choked my throat. I would hug them, then turn and leave before I could really start crying. The music would swell as the screen fades to black.
That didn't happen. Thankfully. There were no tears, many 'I love you's, and absolutely no background music. This is the Vancouver Airport after all, although I wouldn't have minded a little easy-listening while going through security.
The funny thing about going through the airport at four o'clock in the morning, as I am doing, is that nobody smiles. Nobody talks too loud. Even when you're nice to people, the best you get is a dazed grimace. Maybe it's the thrill of the adventure, maybe I'm running on fumes, or maybe I'm just a nut but I smiled. I tried to make conversation. Sometimes I'd even laugh, just to break the gloomy, tired silence.
I'll leave you with a metaphor. I was thinking about this on the drive to Vancouver yesterday. Going on exchange is kind of like having a sweater. First, you have this sweater, and it's old, maybe it even has some holes in it, but you wear it all the time. It's your favourite. You love it.
Then you think one day, 'I'll buy a new sweater' so you do. You don't try it on first you just go to the store and say "give me a sweater, I think I'm a size small". They gie you the sweater and you take it home and put it on. Maybe the sweater is perfect, or maybe it's a bit too small. Maybe the fuzz on the inside is a bit too fuzzy and it's uncomfortable. Unfortunately, your other sweater is in storage and it's winter.
After a while the sweater loosens up, the fuzz wears down. It's comfy, you realize. You really like it, no more than the other one, but it's a good sweater. And the you have two great sweaters.
Not the most profound, but give me a break, it's five in the morning and I'm bored.
Anyways, I'll post pictures when I get them. Love you all!
Moira