The beginning of my Hero's Journey

As I am finishing up my packing I can't help but think that I'll forget something or not do something important that most frequent travelers know to do. It doesn't help that this will be my first time traveling outside of the United States, so my knowledge of traveling is very limited. Thankfully I have my family to remind me to check into my flight, help me to decide what to pack for four months, and to always tell me to use common sense in a foreign area. My father made dinner for the entire family so that everyone could say goodbye to me before I left which was nice, but some members of the family were very nervous which made me a little nervous too. Now with only four hours till I leave for the airport I'm getting a tad bit more nervous but also excited. It seems weird to me that I've waited for months for this day to come and now its finally here and in 24 hours I'll actually be in Europe. I hope when I get to Bonn that I'll really get to learn German with my host family and by just talking to locals, but most importantly I joined this program to hopefully open my eyes to another part of the world and by living with locals I will defiantly have an eye-opening experience. I want my experience in Bonn to be different enough that I'll be shocked and on my feet at all times but not to different that I won't want to come back or regret my decisions. When I first came to Texas A&M as a freshman I was shocked with many things like living on my own, living on campus right next to my classes, the rigorous school work, and balancing a healthy life; However, now that I'm a junior I've gotten used to all the struggles of a college student living College Station. I feel ready to now explore bigger and better things. Ive heard from many foreign exchange students that college in Europe is a lot more difficult than in America, which makes me excited to learn from so many intelligent people that work with the human body and technology to create artificial body parts and limbs. Overall I expect to come back smarter from learning a new language, culture, and practical physiology.