Don't Pinch Me, I want to Keep Dreaming

34 hours until I leave my house.
38 hours until my plane departs for Miami.
4 days until I arrive in Santiago.
This is so surreal.
I can't quite seem to grasp the fact that I'm not going to wake up in my bed Thursday morning.
Waiting for exchange has become such a big part of my life that I'm actually going to miss it. My suitcase is officially packed (yes, it's purple), and I can't imagine what I could possibly think of to do tomorrow. I want to do something special, something that brings this chapter of my life to a close with resounding finality, but in all likelihood, tomorrow will be like any other day, just filled with more anxiety and excitement than usual.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about leaving everything I know behind, actually, petrified may be a more accurate description of how I feel. I'm really going to miss knowing what to expect, but that's the fun of it, it's an adventure. I'm going to be living a year that I just cannot imagine, and that's an incredibly exciting thing.
Even though I am nervous, there are so many things I'm looking forward to. I cannot wait to meet the other Americans going to Chile in Miami, and I can't wait to meet exchange students from all over the world in Santiago (maybe somebody else going to Copiapo?), but I think I'm the most excited about meeting my host-family! On the other hand, I'm more nervous about meeting them than anything else (ok, maybe my first day of school). I heard from my host-mom again, and I have a 12 year old host-brother named Alvaro and a 13 year old host-sister named Elizabeth! They seem like they're a lot of fun, and I think we could get along really well, but I'll meet them soon and all of the speculation will finally be over.