With my first week of this college semester finished, I’ve realized that this is truly my last first week of school ever. This is my last semester at Central Christian College of the Bible and after this everything changes. I won’t be living in a dorm with my two best friends right next door anymore. I won’t be able to walk to the student center to play a random game of pool or visit my favorite professor to talk theology. In fact, come January I won’t even be in the same country as these people. I’ll be leaving everyone and everything I know behind to go on the adventure of a lifetime. I couldn’t be more excited…and I couldn’t be more scared.
The closer to launch time it gets, the more I start thinking about everyone and everything I’m leaving behind. And it’s not just college. My little sister turned seven years old last month; she is quite literally the love of my life and no matter where I’ve been in life I’ve never missed her birthday. But I will next year. My parents recently bought a house and they along with my little sister and brother are moving in this weekend. We’ve never owned a house before or even had very many places to call home so this is huge for my family. But instead of being there for it, I’m missing everything in order to prepare to leave them for eleven months.
Not gonna lie, all of this together can be discouraging and steal my excitement about the World Race. I’ve had to catch myself over and over again thinking more about what I’m leaving instead of about everything I’m going towards. Yes, I will be leaving behind family and friends. But I will also be gaining a new family in my squad and I will be making friends from around the world. And yes, I won’t be able to live the college student life anymore. But I will be learning to live only with what’s necessary and I’ll be experiencing how people from other backgrounds and cultures live. There is no doubt that I will get homesick sometimes and I’ll miss my family, but that doesn’t take away from everything that the World Race will bring. I think I’ve decided that it’s actually okay to be both sad about leaving people behind and excited to see what the next year will bring.
