a week!

I've been very remiss in my posting and communication lately. I tell people that this is because I am getting ready to leave the country, but that's actually a lie. I'm at a loss for packing. It both over/underwhelms me - on one hand, it seems like packing for four months is an impossibly large task that I'll never get through. Deciding even which t-shirts to take with me and to leave at home makes me feel tired, because it doesn't even really matter and yet I'm such an indecisive person that I sit there and sit there holding a t-shirt in each hand and taking about five minutes to decide on each pair of t-shirts which one I should take with me. It's brought my tragic indecision to a whole new level of absurdity. Plus I don't feel as much urgency as I ought. I've been waiting and waiting to leave the US for literally months, but I've been waiting so long that I feel as though I should just still be waiting. I've gotten so used to anticipation and have had such a shortage of reward/effect recently that I think I've grown to not expect it. The one thing I AM really anxious about is that I STILL haven't received any housing information which is making me really really uncomfortable. I think I am going to have to call them tomorrow, which I really really HATE doing. Leaving will be one of the best things for me, though, I think. I will be totally completely on my own. Even when I went to college, I had friends and family within ten minutes or so, and my parents were only a couple of hours away. But this will be different - me in another country, totally by myself. And although that's a tiny bit scary for me to consider, it is mostly really exciting.
I'm glad I'm going to be there early. I will have a few days to sort everything and explore the city and really find a few little places to make my own, perhaps. I love newness. I love finding new coffee shops, new bookstores, new random little shops filled with unexpected things. And York is such an historical city that I feel certain I will learn some interesting things just by wandering around for a couple of days. As further proof of my nerdiness, I'm also excited at the prospect of seeing the new film version of Pride and Prejudice before it's released here in the US. I love Jane Austen. As even further proof of my nerdiness, I spent about half an hour in Barnes and Noble yesterday lamenting the enormous expense of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary and the Chicago Manual of Style, both books which I have resolved firmly to one day have in my possession.
It's a beautiful autumn day today. I sat outside for awhile this afternoon in the sunshine playing with my cats. They are such funny creatures, cats. They can be extremely affectionate but it's always on their own terms. Dogs are always begging for the sort of attention that cats frequently refuse.
I really should work on packing. I'm making a concentrated effort to avoid my room though. Clothes, books, etc. are strewn everywhere. I suppose it's time to sort the chaos.