Written by Global Gap Fellow Elena Konicki
August 18th, 2026
I miss when everything got a countdown. I miss when the nurse would smile reassuringly and whisper, “three… two… one,” before administering a vaccine. I miss when you and your friend would clasp hands and shout, “three! two! one!” before jumping into a freezing pool. I miss when the days before a holiday were filled with all-consuming excitement, as you watched the days tick down “three, two, one.”
Now, everything feels overwhelming, not bad, but overwhelming. My flight to Hanoi leaves in less than a week and every day that counts down feels a bit more like a timebomb than anticipation for blast off. I constantly adjust my packing lists, triple-check my bank account, and fill my Amazon cart (usually to individually remove each item later in the day). I pray that I won’t forget my passport or retainer or something else irreplaceable before flying out. I’ve been trying to come up with the best solution to stop paying for my phone plan while abroad but every ‘solution’ has come up short. Every time I think I’ve thought everything through, my dad will ask me a question that makes me rethink the quality of the research I’ve been slaving away on. Man, adulting is hard.
A lot has changed in my life recently, which I’ll (maybe reductively) attribute to my current anxiety. While at the Summer Institute, my family moved from Florida’s Space Coast (shoutout area code 321), where I’ve lived my whole life, to a suburb of Charlotte. My new house is not quite mine yet, but it’s getting there. I don’t know anyone in this town, but I guess it’s good practice for going abroad. And I’ve had the luxury of taking a four-day solo trip back to my hometown to say some final goodbyes — to my friends, to the beach, and to my childhood home — so my heart is full as I have T-minus three days before my first flight.
Between packing, unpacking, then packing again, and unpacking and packing once more, it’s safe to say that I’m beginning to master the skill. It sucks a little less each time, you know? I’ve been figuring out all the ways to optimize my new capsule wardrobe, limit the number of cosmetics I use, and maximize the space in my money belt. It’s hard to plan for a life I can’t yet visualize, and I’ll admit, sometimes the uncertainty gets to my head, but the planning process has been as exciting as it’s been nerve-wracking, if not moreso.
I’ve left the comfort of my hometown 321 and the hand-holding 3, 2, 1s of childhood, so it’s probably about time I start counting myself down (wish me luck). Adventure begins in three… two…