51 Days Away

In furthering my knowledge of the Philippines I was reading about some of the not so great aspects. The islands are frequented by typhoons (same as hurricanes), earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Most notably is yesterday typhoon that capsized and ferry carrying some 700 passengers. The BBC is covering the story. Pretty sad stuff.
I'm also working on getting my new backpack sent in. I'm looking at a 65 liter Dueter pack that'll hold about 3-4 days worth of stuff. Its pretty snazzy! The next big task is working out all this student loan stuff. I am not anticipating fun. Anyone already dealt with this?

I have a master's degree

I am officially no longer an enrolled student at UNC. It feels really weird to think that on Monday I don't have to go to class. When I came into UNC I knew that I wanted to get my MAT and have spent the last five years making that goal happen. It feels so good to have met such a long term goal. Leaving here with a higher degree makes me proud of myself and my education. I have two months now of living in limbo and then I leave. Plans are to get a job and make as much money as possible while still having fun and saying goodbye. Its just kind of crazy to think about though.

Navigating an end

I've been thinking a lot lately on how the next two months are going to pan out. Yesterday we had an open house to get the place rented starting in August. I think we got it rented out, which is nice because I don't really want to clean in that detail again until I leave. But of course I'm now trying to figure out the time line for getting bills closed, and packing all my stuff, and leaving the country. I also did some financial planning and without a really banging job for the next two months I'm probably going to be putting the dream of travel outside of the Philippines on hold until after the Peace Corps. This is probably a good idea because it'll allow me a chance to see everything in the Philippines and maybe do some traveling with new friends.

Life lesson learned this week: Starting a new part of your life is fun; wrapping up the old part is tricky.

Great song.
Been listening to it a lot.