Vacating

Yesterday was my last full day on the Luther College campus for a year or so. I'll have to stop by once more in the next couple weeks to tie up some loose ends, but I'm essentially done with my responsibilities there for the 2010-11 school year, and can turn full attention toward Nottingham.

A meeting with Luther's director of Global Education (the new name for the Study Abroad office on campus) revealed the secrets of my budget in the UK and the in-s and out-s of the banking set up there. The challenge is to feed 14 people and to pay rent, utilities, tuition, transportation and fees for all programs on a fixed number of pounds.

I also vacated my apartment in Decorah yesterday, and the keys have been turned in. I always thought of myself as just camping out there, with very little beyond necessities of furniture or other "stuff," and yet it was amazing how many loads of "stuff" had to be removed, and how empty the place became when all was gone.

We humans seem to collect ridiculous numbers of this world's goods along the way. Traveling light is never as easy as it would seem. This has been underscored even more at home, where 26 years of accumulated belongings are still being sorted -- some packed, many discarded.

Nevertheless, it's daunting to consider how much remains to be done in these next few weeks. Hopefully, Icelandic volcanoes or other eruptions will not hinder progress.

The Countdown

Exactly four weeks from today we shall board a plane in Minneapolis to begin the journey of a year in the UK. This is such a hectic time that I doubt I'll be posting much:

• I'm just today wrapping up grading final exams and posting grades
• I have a stack of papers to read and evaluate for the Couch Award
• I have two book chapters of my own to write, and a book to edit
• Our house is not yet sold (yikes!) and there is much to pack and prepare
• I'm vacating my Decorah apartment this weekend
• I have to change to a new office on campus next week, and also...
• ...Prepare not to be in the office for a year, leaving it to my replacement.
• Oh, and we have to pack our bags for the trip!

So, there are a few things on the plate. But our excitement is building and we are very much looking forward to the adventure.

The college just bought a new car for the Nottingham program -- a Toyota Auris (the European version of the Corolla) -- which will be ours to drive around Britain for the year. I just got my "International Driver's License" (which is quite a joke -- it simply shows I have a DL in my own country, which I still need to carry with me -- no knowledge of driving on the left or reading European road signs required!).

In my zeal to pack things, I have managed to misplace some of the things we actually need. One item was found neatly inserted in a box. Others I've not yet located. Chaos is contagious. More later.