waiting.

They say the best part of a trip is the waiting. Okay, maybe the ambiguous "they" don't say it- but my mother does. Every time we took a family vacation or I watched her pack for a European adventure, it was the first thing she would say to me, "This is the best part- the excitement and the preparation." Well, it you gage a trip on how much preparation and waiting hours you put in, this should be the best trip of my entire life, because I have been waiting what seems like forever for it.

It was one of the first things that sold me on Georgia Tech during the "college hunt" years- I remember the day I first hear about. It was during one of those cheesy info sessions they have-my mother and I attended most of them. Anyway, it was general info about study abroad: how many programs Tech has, the percentage of students who participate, the cost range, how many countries are covered by Tech students, etc. One nervous parent asked about cost, and what the most expensive trip was. Jason Seletos, the host of the session, smiled and said, "The program I am in charge of- it's called the Oxford Program." After explaining about the 4 weeks of travel to 7 different European cities and the glorious 6 weeks spent in Oxford following it, I turned to mom and grinned/groaned, "Well, that's the one I want to go on. Figures."

Two years later, here I am, sitting in Memphis, staring at my little red suitcase jammed full of everything in the world I can think of- probably too much clothes (is that possible???), entirely too many band-aides, about 20 packages of Emergen-C, two pairs of earplugs (what if I lost the first pair??), and exactly 4 pairs of shoes.Am I prepared? I think so. Am I excited? Hell yes. Can I even fathom what this summer holds in store for me, my three best friends, the 146 other participants, and the seven countries we are guaranteed to see? Probably not.

But I do know: Will it be worth the wait?

Absolutely.