This is it! We're going!

I'm going to have to pull an all-nighter tonight. My house is still pretty much in disarray. Heather said I can't sleep until we're on the plane from Miami to Peru because it'll be better for me to sleep at night and not during the day during our SLC-Dallas or Dallas-Miami flights. Nice try. After finals week and all this mayhem, I'm going to be sleeping once I get to my seat in Salt Lake. Wake me up in Trujillo.

Heather and I met with this really great man, Alberto Puertas, today. Alberto is from Trujillo, but he is now an administrator at BYU working in the Career & Counseling Center in the Wilkinson Center. He has been really helpful. We went together to a Peruvian restaurant, La Carreta, in Orem for lunch a few days ago with another student, Dan Ash, who will be in a different part of Peru. Today we just talked about places to see in Lima during our layover, places to visit in Trujillo, who to contact in Cuzco...he even is having one of his friends who drives a taxi meet us in Lima so we can have a more guided/safe visit of the city. He told us that he'd be a darker complected, Incan-looking guy. Sounds easy to pick out! Actually, Mom Tucker and Mom Palmer, don't worry too much. He'll have a sign reading, "Daniela" (since Heather isn't Hispanic enough), so we'll be sure to go with the right guy.

I'm starting to get SUPER excited. I can't believe this is finally happening! My dad served his mission in Peru, so I've heard a little bit about it over the years. It'll be great to go down there and experience it myself.

So...I'm really just trying to get this all together. It's pretty insane. And I'm missing my little sister's graduation today. :( And I haven't had time to eat anything since the smoothie I made six hours ago. But I don't really have time to find something healthy to eat. Heather was telling me that she's going to try to help me learn how the other half (the people who live calmer lives) live while we're in Peru. "First you make a to-do list, then you make a schedule..." Just kidding, but I really think it will benefit me to see what it's like to not constantly be running from one chaos to the next. Heather is really good at getting everything done and not at a frenetic pace, so it'll be great for me to witness that. :) I'm really excited to be going on this trip and to be going with Heather. We didn't plan to apply together--though we knew the other person was applying--but I'm so glad it has worked out this way. Heather is such an amazing person. She genuinely desires to be good, she works hard, she loves other people, and she's such a sweet friend. Especially with us spending our summers in New Jersey (me) and Texas (Heather), it'll be fun to start the first three weeks off together.

All right, onward and upward! Showering, packing, more meetings, graduation celebrations, all-nighters...