Thursday, August 27, 2009

Preparing

And once again I find myself in the weird time/space that sneaks up from behind me whenever I’m about to leave one home for another. I’ve been living at home in DeForest since mid May and I’m about to leave for Paris, pausing in New York for a few days. I will be in Paris until December.

It seems I’m not as excited as I should be. I am, very much so, but there’s an aspect of exhilaration missing. Traveling and exploring places that are new to me is among my favorite things to do. Still, I don’t feel as excited as I did when I was preparing for Dublin or Belize or Hungary. I’m not passé about it, it just seems natural to go, which is somehow muting the pre-departure experience.

Part of it all may be that people here are incredibly, incredibly excited for travel, especially international travel. Most vacations involve a cabin up north or hours upon hours getting somewhere in a car. I don’t say this to be judgmental, I love camping and road trips, but perhaps its hard to be excited when you’re trying to be humble and are trying to downplay something that might cause jealousy or resentment.

Regardless, once my flight lands and I arrive in Paris, I will feel like I’m standing on a mountain’s top nearly flying on the wind’s powerful gusts and I can not wait for that feeling of exhilaration.