Tomorrow afternoon I will get into my parents’ car and we will drive to Miami International Airport. I will spend two hours or so in the airport, going through security, sitting at my gate and thinking, and reading books, and writing in my journal perhaps. I will get onto a plane and fly, overnight, to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

It is roughly an eight-hour flight, maybe nine, and so I will get into Argentina at 6 AM or so, at which point I will find my way into the city, drop off my stuff at a hostel, and meet up with my sister Rachel. This is about as far as the planning goes. At some point, I will wander around the city; I will look for a place to stay more permanently; I will call Maria A., for whom I will be working; I will try and meet some people; I will meet up with Elisa J. I am trying to take things a few steps at a time.

I am somewhat nervous about three things, is the way I figure it: I’m not sure how my language skills will be (although people assure me that it will be okay, and that I will pick things up; I am trying to listen to them), I’m not sure how much use I’ll be to Maria A., and I’m worried about being lonely / not meeting people who are interesting. I think the latter two have easy solutions if they become problems. The former is my primary worry, and hey — it has an easy solution, too, which is to take Spanish classes. So I may. These are worries which will not be alleviated by consideration; I will worry more later.

More practically, I have not really begun to pack yet, so I will start reasonably early in the morning. My clothes currently wrinkle my floor in their lumps of hills, some folded and some rolled, some strewn about as though they had been worn. I have a list of things I need in my head, including medicines and toothpaste and an electric razor and phone numbers and all sorts of things. Tomorrow will be the day when I figure out how I can fit them into the bag I’m allotting myself, and how many books I’m allowed to bring (I’m thinking three, but that’ll be tough).

I shan’t post anything more until I am in Argentina, I don’t imagine. This is well and good.

I am nervous; I am excited. All will be well.