Here comes the sun!

"Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right." - The Beatles

This is my last night in the south and I feel like this a beginning, or better, a continuation, as I interpret the song. "It seems like years since it's been here." I was in Churchill last summer for two weeks, where I fell in love with northern research, the tundra, small towns, and good people. I'm going back! And when I go back this time, it is less of the excitement of going to a new place, but returning to a place I have just begun to know. I'm thrilled for all the new experiences that I know are around the corner, all the new research I'll be exposed to and all the new people I will meet. I'm also excited to be away from home for so long, trying out what it's like to be independent.

But I'm also a bit nervous and scared. I've never been away from home for so long, and I'm pretty sure I will get homesick if I don't keep busy. I'll miss my family and friends - you know who you are :) - and my Star - she's a cockatiel who has taught me to whistle in her language. If you find me whistling a repeated high pitched note, do not be alarmed, I am merely attempting to call to my flock-mate - whom I will miss!

And I'm a bit afraid that I will get bored. I brought a bunch of stuff to do (novels to read, an ebook reader which can keep me busy for years, textbooks to brush up on ecology and statistics, jump ropes, a yoga mat, running shoes, a sketch book, a notebook, a camera) and I hope that I don't get through all of them, that I will be busy enough with my own research, helping with other people's research, the podcast, and rifle practice so I won't have time to get bored.

Nevertheless, the unknown always scares me a little bit, but "I say it's all right!" Because I also know it will be so much fun!

Let the adventure begin, "Here it comes..."