I am still taking steps toward Lithuania.  I got a bank account with Chase, because they have less-than-exorbitant fees for withdrawing money overseas.  I am getting together my stuff to go to Chicago in less than two weeks.  (LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!)  I am making budgets and I am writing emails to various Lithuanian officials in order to be as prepared as one can be when one is moving thousands of miles away from home. I looked up rates for the Chicago CTA and I am mentally preparing to take a subway.  So. many. firsts.

I am mentally preparing for Chicago like it is a practice run for my trip to Lithuania.  It will be my first time going anywhere alone, where I will have to completely take care of everything without any help from other people, except for strangers.  I haven’t ever even booked myself into a hotel, let alone taken care of every detail of day-to-day living in a city.  I haven’t ever been to a city larger than Boise…  I am a little afraid to think about how big Chicago actually is.

I feel like I am such a country bumpkin.  I guess I will learn how to be a little more worldly one little trip, and one big trip at a time…