Good Bye College Station...Hello World

My journey has officially started. The last few weeks have been a crazy, hectic combination of frantic packing, planning, waiting, working, laughing, crying, stress, joy impatience and fear. I have hugged everyone good bye, heard all the advice everyone could think of, and truly enjoyed the realization of how many lives I have touched and how many people I have impacted. It really astounds me.
Now I start figuring out what it is like to be a vagabond. No phone. No car. No place to call my own. A 20 lb. pack on my back with everything I hope to need for the next 8 months. All I can say so far is that it is different...very, very different. I feel like I am in a sort of limbo. I have left home, but I am not in SE Asia yet. I realize I have started this incredible journey, but nothing really seams all that different. I guess I was expecting this drastic internal change. I new way of looking at the world. Which I realize is completely ridiculous, but I guess I still thought there would be something profound. I just feel like me, doing my thing and carrying on.
There have been brief moments of feeling intensely overwhelmed, but there have also been moments of extreme excitement that can only be expressed though an explosive squeal that typically catches those I am around by complete surprise. I am so pleased to be finally on my trip, not just planning the trip.
And I realize, as I am re-reading what I have already posted that I really have no clue. =] I am happy, I am pleased, I am excited, and I still have a lot to figure out!! So my friends, I will endeavor to gather my thoughts, compose my feelings and write some more later when I have something that does not contradict itself.

at the start...

In the beginning there was much confusion and uncertainty...and it was slightly overwhelming.

I have finally realized I need to knuckle down and start thinking about the nitty-gritty details of this adventure. Passports, transportation, places, people...all the how tos and what tos and where tos and want tos. I think what keeps holding me back is: 1) it is all so overwhelmingly daunting! 2) I still feel like a have a ton of time to figure all this out. and 3) the whole idea behind this journey is the desire to be free - and this is a big sticking point for me. I want to cut ties with the life style I have currently been living and set out on the road for who know what at who knows where. I want to be a vagabond...a nomad...exploring the world without a timetable or plan. I want to hitchhike and depend on the kindness of others. I want to wake up somewhere and wonder what in the world could happen to me today. I want to experience the true freedom of wandering. And I hope that through this unanchored existence, I can absorb the life, the culture, the people around me...be engulfed in their lives and see the world through their eyes. I want to make meaningful connections with individuals from all walks of life, all over the world. I want to go to Indonesia, and Africa, and the Middle East in part because it is "unsafe". I want to push the boundaries and open other's eyes to the beauty of humankind and show everyone that we are all the same on some level. I want to let go of the luxuries I have grown up with so I can better appreciate what I have been given. I want to prove to the world that money does not make you happy...people, friendships, love, desires, dreams...these are what make life rich.