T - 6.5 hours

In just a few hours now I will be brought to JFK airport to leave NY on a lengthly flight to Incheon airport outside of Seoul. It has been a great week of seeing friends and family that I will not see for the next year. In fact, it will be quite some time before I see anyone that I know. I wish that I could say that I am racked with anticipation or fear or excitement, but I feel a bit emotionally detached from the whole situation. I feel that I should be sad to be leaving so many people and things that I am close too, but I more than ready to go. I think that leaving would be much harded if I did not feel so sure that this was the right thing to be doing.

It isn't so much that there was anything particularly wrong with NY and I have trouble explaining why I feel so compelled to move on, but those of you who know me best surely understand. I don't have any specific aim in going to Korea aside from experiencing something completely new. And I can't say that the idea of a clean slate and new life aren't exciting to me. I also feel that, really for the first time, that I am doing something completely on my own and of my own valition. I guess that a lot of people got that satisfaction after graduation or after getting their first job, but up to this point that feeling seems to have completely eluded me.

I have read a few guide books and done some wiki searching and have read things that should get me ready for my transition, but I honestly do not know what to expect aside from adventure. And in the spirit of that, I think that I am just going to try and relax as the imminent future becomes the present. I am going to go lie down with my Kindle (thanks mom, best present ever) and get some shut eye. I will post as soon as I figure out my internet situation.

My best to you all.

Mike