Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! One month from today I'll be heading south to Boston, and flying out the next morning, bright and early for a trip that will last me 24 hours. I fly from Boston to JFK to Johannesburg, to Antananarivo, which is the capital of Madagascar. I found out the other day that there are a few other students in my program who are on my flights from JFK to Johannesburg, and from Johannesburg to Antananarivo, so at least maybe others will help me from getting lost in an airport, because that is something that would definitely happen to me.

I'm excited to see what an international flight is like since I'm used to flying on really small planes to and from Portland, ME, where only one side of the plane has storage for carry on luggage. They are so small that I have to duck my head while walking down the center aisle, and they even make me start to feel mildly claustrophobic.

So it should be an interesting experience to fly in this instead:

Unfortunately, on my way home from Madagascar, I have a 7 hour layover in JFK before flying into Boston, and then I still have a 3 hour drive home. And then maybe I'll be lucky enough to get showered with presents, since my 19th birthday is three days after I get home. Or maybe I'll be thankful enough just to take a shower after my 30 hours of traveling. And then I'll probably pig out on Reese's and make Mom make lobster and haddock for dinner. Oh the joys of Maine that I will certainly miss while I'm gone. Or maybe I'll even ask her to make me German Apple Pancakes. We have them every year on Christmas morning, and they are AMAZING. Seriously, if you haven't had them, you have to try them.  

Doesn't this just look scrumptious?

Although I suppose that before I start planning on what I'm going to eat when I come home, I should think about my last meal here in the States and what I want it to be. :) I'll probably settle on brownies. I seriously have a chocolate problem.

Anyway, enough about food. I'll have to do a post within the next few days showing everyone some of the treats I get for Christmas in preparation for my trip. Honestly, I hope my stocking is full of sunscreen, bug spray, and all kinds of different medicines that could prepare me for anything. Unfortunately, I've always been the kid who always caught all of the colds and flus, so I have a feeling I'm going to be one of the sicker ones on our trip, and I want to make sure I'm prepared for anything. :) I just hope I don't have any skin problems, because they gross me out more than anything. Speaking of medicine and health, I'm half way through my typhoid vaccine pills, so I'll be done with them in four more days! Other than that, I have to find a medical alert bracelet for my amoxicillin allergy and take malaria pills right before I leave, while I'm in Madagascar, and a week after I get home (although I did find out that even if you take malaria pills, you can still get malaria, and even though I'm taking the vaccine pills for typhoid fever, I can still get typhoid fever, so those are a few fun facts.).

That's it for now! To all of my friends and family (with a special shout out to Lily Hofstra for being awesome), have a very Merry Christmas!! <3