The Prologue

In six days, I'll be heading off to Peru for new adventures with the Peace Corps. I'm excited, anxious, preemptively missing people, hopeful, curious, and a tad ... listless? I'm packing my life into two lumpy bags, buying duct tape and batteries, and downloading e-books like they were Death Cab for Cutie. I spent nearly $200 at Target, and am now a one-woman pharmacy of multi-vitamins, Airborne chewables and hand sanitizer.

I guess you could say, right now, my life is broken down into a series of post-its that look a little something like this ...

Things to do before I go:

• renew my driver's license
• buy personal property insurance
• establish a power of attorney
• defer my student loans
• take pictures of family, friends and home-sweet-home
• go to a Twins game
  

Things to pack:

• duct tape
• hiking boots, running shoes, ballet flats, high heels and flip flops
• nifty pocket knife (with the nifty fold-out nail clippers)
• photo album
• 27 months worth of *cough* female items
• address book
  
• all five Harry Potter movies

Things I want to see when I'm in South America:

• Machu Picchu
• Angel Falls
• an Andean village
  
• Buenas Aires
• the Amazon River
• an animal I've never seen

Things to eat as often as possible before I go:

• hamburgers
  
• Vietnamese food
• mac 'n' cheese
• French fries
• club sandwiches (extra bacon)

My brain is going a million directions, and I'm not quite sure I'm ready for this. But I will take solace in one thing: whatever happens, it will be an adventure.