Life Before Germany!

I am sitting here on Christmas day in my nice cozy bed with 17 hours until I board a plane to go to a different part of this planet. I am trying to think about how I feel without giving the typical emotions of a student who has never left the country (except for two cruises to Mexico). I have had so many contrasting feelings in this past month that I feel like it has caused a cancellation of emotions. I am anxious yet calm; excited yet scared; confused yet prepared. They tell you that you are suppose to have a roller-coaster of feelings when you study abroad...I am dreading the moment when it finally hits me that I am leaving for THREE WEEKS. Many people would say "yeah so what, three weeks is nothing compared to a semester," but three weeks can be both a very long and very short period of time. I have not flown since I was in 8th grade (7 years ago). Keeping this in mind I cannot fathom that in about 17 hours I will be on a 10-hour flight to Germany. I will have to deal with this side emotion tomorrow when I go through the loads of security and try to find my gate scrambling through the hustle and bustle that is what I can only imagine my inner mind would look like if I were to peek inside. I of course have the feeling that I have forgotten something and have lost everything that I have already packed without even rolling my suitcase out of my front door. I have been preparing for this trip for about four to five months now and cannot believe that the time has finally arrived that I have been so bravely and casually talking about to friends and family when this is anything but casual. I want to go to Europe and do all the right things, but I am starting to realize that I need to as the saying goes "go with the flow". I have been told the Germans are mean; the Germans are nice. I have been told not to do anything I would not do in the US. I have been told to keep my morals, but do not second-guess myself on new things. I have been told to be open-minded. I have been told the food is amazing. I have been told the Germans are blunt. I have been told stop worrying. I have been told to just take it all in. I have been told this is only an appetizer of Europe, and that I can always go back again. I have been told flying is not safe. I have been told Germany is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. But of all the things I have been told the one advice that keeps ringing in my ears is to let Europe engulf you and allow it to change you in the way it is suppose to. All the advice I have been given just makes me that much more grateful that I will be able to start forming my own opinions in 27 hours when I first arrive in Frankfurt, Germany!!!