51.5. well, this could get interesting.

over the past few weeks, i've been piling all of the random stuff i need in alex's empty room. dive gear, 3 months of toiletries, medicines/first aid stuff, etc. today i decided it'd be a good idea to weigh all of it to get a benchmark on how much clothing i could bring. i am allowed to bring 44 lbs of stuff... that includes my carry on AND checked luggage. well, the weight of everything without clothing? 51.5 pounds. so basically i will be lucky if i can fit a spare pair of underwear in my bag. packing could be disastrous, let's be honest here.

in other news, something very exciting happened yesterday! i got into james cook university, located in cairns/townsville (there are two campuses) in australia :) i am still waiting to hear back from the university of queensland, the university of adelaide and flinders university. but regardless, i will be in australia studying marine biology for the next 3 years starting in july! it's extremely exciting and extremely nerve wracking. the next couple weeks are going to be just the start of a whole new adventure. hopefully i'll hear back from the other schools before i leave so i can leave without this huge decision up in the air. man, i am pumped. africa in 2 weeks for 3 months. home for a month and a half. australia for the next three years. it finally feels like everything is headed in the right direction. 

i also got the chance to hang out with my friend andrew yesterday. he and i graduated from ehs together and have known each other since... sixth? grade. he is one of the kindest, most loving, calming people i know and he's going to be in tanzania at the same time i am!! we'll both be in arusha, although he's going to be working with a different organization. he's flying there the day before i am and will be returning home midmarch. it's reassuring to know he'll be so close. i can't wait to experience this adventure with him!

overall, i am so excited for this upcoming season in my life. after spending the past 3 years jumping between schools and cities i'm not crazy about, it's nice to feel like everything may just work out after all. 

the neoprene death suit. aka the current bane of my existence.

my medications alone. this is why my suitcase is going to be severely overweight.

ps-i don't know what the heck is going on with the format of this blog. it keeps changing the size/color/font. hopefully i will get better at this. it is driving me insane!