This weekend my mom and I went to Vancouver. It was just a "girls' weekend away" and we had a great time. I think we shopped til we dropped (I hate that term) and our feet were absolutely killing us! I can tell you I won't be taking those shoes with me to Europe!

I was luckily able to buy a few things for my trip! It feels more real now. I bought the backpack I'd been eyeing for the past month or two. I haven't been able to find it around Victoria - at only $139 at the Backpacker's Shop on Broadway, the Outbound Tallaroo (65L) was a great deal for a really good bag. It had all the bits and pieces I wanted, including a 20L daypack.

I was also able to find a great pair of pants, a tanktop, a "travel purse" (by Gravis) and an adapter for good prices.

Oh, and I bought a 2nd pair of these great khaki shorts at Old Navy. Here's something that confuses me. Please, someone explain it. I bought a pair a few weeks ago and really like them, so I wanted to buy a 2nd pair. Turns out they were on sale so I took the 1st ones in to get the price adjustment when purchasing a new pair. I got to the desk and the girl said that I could only get a price adjustment on my original ones up to 7 days after purchase, although I can return them up to 90 days. I said fine, I'm going to return them and rebuy them. If looks could kill! She was pretty ticked. But seriously, what's the point of that? Wouldn't people just return the item and repurchase it at the sale price? Oh well.

Anyway, the whole weekend made my up-coming trip seem so much more real. I feel sad that I'm leaving a city that I love, sad that I'm leaving my family and that my mom and I didn't do more of these little weekend trips together... As of tomorrow it's just 8 weeks until the big day. I'm not scared or anything - I just wonder if maybe this is the right decision? I mean, I know it is and I know I'll regret it if I don't go... but I'm sure everyone has these little tickling doubts.

I just better not come home halfway through because I'm too chicken shit to stay over there all year - now that would be embarrassing.

A cog in the works...

I've just found out that I will need to return to Canada in order to get a work visa for Poland, after finding a job in September. I had just assumed I could get a visa while over there, but Poland seems different from other neighbouring countries in this regard.

Not good.

So then I thought - why don't I find a job before going overseas? But of course that doesn't work because most (good) schools require a TESOL course... which I won't have until the fall.

Me? Stressed? Nooo...

Until now I've been "anti-blog." Why would someone want to read about what I'm doing? I don't seem nearly as interesting as everyone else who has one of these things, and I'm not nearly as good a writer. But, I've succumbed to the pull and here I am. (Although I admit I may get bored with it... If that's the case, I'll be sure to let you know!)

(Speaking of good writers... My favourite blog can be found here - www.theglobaltrip.com. I highly recommend a look, especially at the various slide shows - very inspiring.)

I hope to use this blog as a catch-all for what I'm doing during the planning stages and what I'm doing while away. I suppose I could play catch-up and tell you what I've been planning and doing up to this point, but that would be dull and unproductive. Maybe later?

Either way, as of today there are 9 weeks to go until the big trip.

*gulp*

Faro, London, Krakow, Prague... these are hopefully just the beginning to my life abroad.

I admit to being somewhat "anti-blog" - but hey, I'm always willing to give something a try at least once! So, welcome to the world that I will be soon be born into.

This sort of reminds me of the movie Ed TV... But on the internet... Okay, not really.