Counting Down

It's official, my flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka leaves in exactly 13 days, 1 hour, 7 minutes. I've been vaccinated so many times my arms are like pin cushions and I'm loaded up on Malaria and Typhoid meds. I'm a walking talking pharmacy and raring to go.  Trying to pack three months of my life into a 44 lb bag on the other hand is presenting somewhat of a challenge.  How do you stop your packing list from taking on a mind of its own? Camera ✔, Student Card ✔, Visa ✔, Passport ✔, I'm definitely going to forget something...
The plan as of now, and somehow my plans never go according to plan, is to leave from Chicago on May 21st and arrive in Colombo the following Monday morning.  My first week consists of a culture and language program (3-4 hours of Sinhalese practice every day!) through which I get introduced to Sri Lankan culture, before I move to Pinnawala to play with the ELEPHANTS! Five short weeks later I fly to London to spend some quality time with the fam and then on July 16th I fly to Madrid to meet up with my ΓΦΒ twin Molly to backpack through Cordoba, Granada, Valencia up to Barcelona (at least thats the plan).  Finally my summer ends with two weeks relaxingin Majorca before flying back to my Junior year of college (how did two years go by so fast?)

Some Sinhalese for all those following at home...

Hello: “Hello” (shouldn't be too hard)

Bye: “aayu-bowan”

Yes: “owu”

No: “naeh”

Please: “karuna kara”

Thank you: “stuh-tee”

Excuse me: “sama venna”

How you say any of these words I couldn't tell you...guess I'll figure that out later.