To be honest I had to look that little phrase up because I felt awkward saying it to myself. I know what it means obviously, but just wanted to see a more specific definition. One phrase caught my eye: “have a peaceful trip” (the Arabic translation.) At first I was like “okay well that’s stupid, who wants a peaceful 4-month semester traveling the world with a bunch of college students and barely sleeping, eating crazy foods and just having an amazing time.” But when I really thought about it, I do want peace on this trip. I obviously hope nothing goes wrong and I am kept safe. For the most part nothing usually happens. I mean there’s the occasional drunk kid screwing up on something but I’m not gonna be that kid. At all. But I guess one thing I do ask for is peace. Peace that creates patience when something is going wrong and I don’t know how to handle it. Peace that forms wisdom in a time of chaos. Peace that allows me to go with the flow and realize that although I might be annoyed by someone I meet, or how something turns out, that specific part of the trip might turn out to be the most meaningful to me in the long run and I might just be learning an important lesson. I hope to find peace in places I would never expect and come back to the states with a life changed for the better. I hope to have peace in myself.

I honestly cannot believe I am boarding the ship in just over an hour. This is finally so real! It hasn’t completely hit me yet but it comes in waves. I went to log onto the “MyLogin” page for SAS and realized that will be the last time I have to check for any documents I might have missed, or look up trips, or check my class times, or anything! I’m no longer that confused student but one who is about to start another once-in-a-lifetime journey. I literally got chills when I opened the window and saw this little picture.

“OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. OK.”

Okay! I’m good to go 🙂