8 Jan 2008

I am flying to London from New York on a half-full plane. The company is Air India, so the in-flight entertainment consists of Bollywood music videos cut from movies, as well as what seems to be an Indian soap opera. It is not in English. I have just discovered that my tirla period of Microsoft Office has expired, or that seems to be the only excuse as to why I can't operate MS Word, and this discovery is pretty devastating, because the only way i have managd to turn out remotely decent Spanish papers in the past is with copious gramatical correction from the program. I was also hoping to be able to take notes in Word so that I would be able to quickly search through them to study. I have no idea what I'm going to do about this, and even less of an idea why it would expire now, of all times. Why didn't I install my older version of Office when I was at home??
Other than this discovery, the trip has been less than eventful so far. Wrestling my bags from Canal Street to the subway to JFK was an excercise in patience. I had the good luck, however, to run into a few very good friends randomly before boarding the Orange Line to South Station, and that was a very nice send-off.
I feel, much more than I ever have before, a deep sense of disconnection with this adventure. I regret that I'm leaving behind people who are very important to me, and I feel like this is an awkward time to have to put a pause in my friendships. Of course, its easy to keep in touch these days with the internet, free online chatting and webchat, but even so, I remember how hard it was to connect with some people when we were within walking distance of each other, and even though we urge each other to 'keep in touch,' I wonder if it will really happen. I know that with a true friend, months can go by without speaking, and once in contact again, it seems as though no time has passed at all, and I have also experienced this. I just hope that my absence doesn't test my friendships with those I have left behind.
I'm also more nervous than I have ever been about starting something new. I'm worried that I won't do well in my classes, even though I don't know what my classes are yet. Actually most of the things I'm worried about are simply not knowing what to expect.
Well, now the BRATZ movie is playing, and I thought things couldn't get much better than that (note sarcasm) but this being Air India, the food thatwas served was curry, so thats enough to cheer me up for now.
I have misgivings, but I know that it will end up being just fine. Six months isn't so very long after all, and at the end of it, I probably won't want to be going home.