Last full day in the U.S.

This morning started out slow!! My mom and I went and ran all of my last errands. We had to go get my bigger suitcase because last night I packed my medium size one and it was crammed FULL; AND it was only 32lbs. Then we went to the post office, wal-mart, t-mobile (where they told me I had to have my phone unlocked in order to put an Italian sim card in it...and that it could take a few days), the bank downtown to get euros, the bank close to my house (where the girl that has been helping us was super friendly as usual...she has been so sweet to us and I am going to send her a post card!!), home, then sam's, then Target to get an adapter/converter, Bama Fever (for one of my host family's gifts!), and then home. We have had a VERY busy day!!!

I was kind of bummed that it was a dreary, rainy day! However, it was a great day!

The guys at the bank downtown were also very friendly and I was excited to have my first euros...I was bummed that the exchange rate sucked today, so it cost a good bit of money, but oh well. I thought it was weird that the bills are all slightly different sizes...hmm...

I was also excited about wrapping the family's gifts, only to find out that they will probably unwrap them at customs in Italy! :( However, even if they do that, at least I'll have the bows (especially the houndstooth one!).

The tall red one is the wine cork in the second picture (which for some reason won't turn). The houndstooth one is an Alabama ornament. So, I tried to think of things unique to my home and naturally football came to mind! I hate that they will probably unwrap my gifts, but they are pretty for now! :)

I spent the evening packing and weighing the new suitcase. I have 95% of my things packed and ready to go.
It still doesn't feel real to me. Everyone is so excited that I'm going to Italy and they are so excited for me...but it hasn't hit me yet! I dont think it will until I land in Paris and realize that I am in Europe! Even then I dont think it will feel real that I'm going to Italy!

The only thing that really bummed me out tonight was that when I got my email to check in, and I was confirming everything it showed me that they didn't save my seat selections. I like triple checked them the night that I booked my flight. It changed my aisle seats and I was kind of upset. I was able to reserve an aisle seat for my flight home (Amsterdam to Atlanta), but I have a window seat over the wing for tomorrow night's flight. Thankfully though it's only one person to climb over and I'm hoping that I sleep most of the time. Perhaps it will be helpful to have something to lean up against.

Anyway, so tomorrow morning I am going to take my Chili Dog for a walk, take a shower, double and triple check all of my stuff, and then we are leaving around 2:30 to go to Atlanta!

**Sorry this blog is all over the place...it's a reflection of my brain right now! I promise to do a better job as I continue!!**

99.9% of my to-do list for the week is COMPLETED!!!!