On being different.

In five-ish hours I need to be up and walking out the door to head to the Dominican Republic.
It's a weird feeling, leaving the country in the middle of the semester.
A part of me feels irresponsible, a part of me is nervous, the biggest part of me can't wait to run away.

For seven days (the same amount as it takes someone to die in "The Ring") I will be in a different country trying to remember my Spanish and hopefully stepping into the Atlantic Ocean.
I will be in a different time zone.
Nothing will be the same.

My Tia Nani used to always say "It's not weird, it's different" when we would talk about how weird all of Spanish culture was. I'm glad she accustomed me to that word.
Different.
A different country, different people than I'm used to, different customs, different food.
Different everything.

But I can't wait to feel something different.
For months I have been feeling the same thing day after day.

I have a good feeling that God is going to show up in the Dominican Republic, and he is going to help me feel something different.
But this kind of different isn't weird at all, it is incredible.
It will be a kind of different I will have never experienced, the best kind of different.

When I get there I will be the one who is different, the one who is weird.
I will be the foreigner, the stranger.

I'm so thankful for different.
I'm so thankful for getting away for a little while.

Plus, maybe I'll get a tan?