PANIC!!!

Tomorrow is the day. I have been in panic mode for a few days now. I am sure it seems like I am exaggerating, but I feel like I haven't slept in days. The woman who is in charge of my plane tickets is somewhat of a flake. She is really hard to get a hold of, and I never know what is going to happen with her. I wasn't sure about my plane tickets until just this morning! Tuesday! The DAY before I leave. No wonder I am in panic mode. Yesterday I had to drive to Colorado Springs from Denver to get my ticket packet to be able to get on the plane, into New Zealand, and into and out of Chile. There is a letter in this packet that tells the country of New Zealand that I am allowed to be there. I had no idea that I needed something like that! It freaks me out to have so much dependent on a little piece of paper.

I will be flying alone. Travelling for days alone. I think being alone and somehow losing something are my biggest fears for this trip. On Sunday my aunt Edna had a going away party for me, and everyone was telling me how brave I was to be willing to go so far away with people I don't know; proud of me for being on a ship for two months straight. I am truthfully not afraid of any of those things. I am just afraid that somehow I will forget something really important that will not allow me to travel. I am sure all will be fine but WOW! I really can't sleep.

It is time for me to say my good byes. Up until this point I wasn't sad. I wasn't worried. There were no issues. Now that I have realized that I am leaving tomorrow, I am a little melancholy. This will be an experience of a lifetime. Hopefully I will cultivate a better understanding about what I can do with geology. Tomorrow will begin an opportunity on 500,000 people have had.

I will be visiting Christchurch and Kaikoura while I am there. Kaikoura is a little north east of Christchurch. Kaikoura is on the beach and is well known for its whale watching sites. I am meeting up with Christine Siddoway and the senior geology majors in Kaikoura. Hopefully I will learn something about the fascinating geology of New Zealand from them!

pretrip

Well, I believe I have 3 weeks left. In just a few hours I will be down to 20 days. I didn't think this would ever come so close. I don't know if I can imagine myself thousands of miles south of here is less than a month. There have been quite a few mishaps and misadventures along the way. Actually, I am still dealing with one. My deadline for being "PQ-ed" as they call it, which is just an acronym for "physically qualified," is January 5th. That is...FRIDAY! I am all set to go except I have two cavities to fill. I had a dentist appointment yesterday that was cancelled due to an unbelievable amount of snow in Trinidad. Supposedly, this is the biggest snow storm in Trinidad history. I would say they had at least 3 feet there. Well, unfortunately, that put my "PQ-ing" off until further notice.

I am beginning to panic now. What if I don't make qualification in time? What if I forgot something? What if I am not prepared enough? I really think that I might be capable of surviving this trip without much damage. (Doesn't that sound self assured?) Tomorrow I will hopefully be speeding to Trinidad to get my weak teeth filled, and then I will be ready to go!

Another thing I am hoping for is a chance to leave a couple of days earlier than the rest of the crew so I can see Christine Siddoway. She is the mentor I have had since my freshman year at Colorado College. She is the only reason I am going on this trip. I took my first geology class from her. When I found out that she did research in the Wet Mountains, I got really excited. For those of who don't know where or what the Wet Mountains are here's a clue: Greenhorn Mountain, Colorado. Greenhorn is one of my favorite places, and hearing that she spent a lot of time studying there really got me excited about geology. Anyway, back to the trip. I would like to meet Christine in New Zealand while she is there with the Colorado College senior geology majors. I think that would be great! Plus, if I go early, I get to peruse around a new country for free! When do you ever get a chance to do that?

I have just a few more preparational things on my list of to-dos. For one, I would love to write an article for the La Veta local newspaper called "The Signature." I think it would be a good inspiration for the people there. While that sounds like a very conceited thing to say, I know the folks in Walsenburg, and I am sure they all need a little push in understanding their own capabilities. If I were still a student in Walsenburg, hearing someone say they got to do research in Antarctica would make me want to try harder to be able to get to do that kind of thing. Luckily for me, I did hear a lot of inspirational stories about kids from Walsenburg who actually got out and made something of themselves, that is why I am where I am today.

Well, this was the first post, and I am sure all of you will be reading more. Maybe a few before I leave again. Now I am off to search for links to sites that will give you more "scientific" information than I am capable of at 11 pm.