To Panic or Not to Panic....That Is the Question

A week from today, I will be loading my car and driving four hours away to stay in campus housing for three weeks without my family in order to complete a significant portion of my master's degree studies.

Part of me wants to panic. Okay, the biggest part of me wants to panic because I keep thinking:

• I'm stressed about all the things I meant to get done before I left (that I haven't).
• I'm sad about all the things I will be missing while I am gone.
• I'm nervous for my husband and the babysitter whose task it is to keep my six-year-old entertained (she announced that she was already bored by 10 a.m. the day after school let out).
• I'm worried about making it through eight hour class days without getting a migraine.
• I'm wondering how well I will get along with my classmates. Will I be the odd man out because I am not a certified teacher nor have I ever taught?
• Will the cafeteria food be bearable? I have valid fears: I lived on this particular campus the year before I married, and the smells from the cafeteria made me nauseous as I passed by each day. I still claim it was the worst food in the history of university cafeterias! Even the salad and cereal was unsuitable to eat, in my opinion. No joke! I lost so much weight that year....

On the upside, there are several things to look forward to in this experience:

• I get to meet new people and (hopefully) make some new friends. If not, it will be a great exercise in networking.
• I will have completed nine hours of courses in three weeks. There is no other way I'd be able to graduate in a year's time if not for this intense session.
• I won't have to cook any meals and I will only be responsible for dressing myself, cleaning my tiny dorm room and keeping my small stash of laundry clean. What a load off!
• Evenings should be free for reading a good book or working out at the really nice Wellness Center (they are even having Zumba classes!) or taking a walk around the track just like I used to do in the "good ol' days."
• I don't have to be in class until 9 a.m. which means I can sleep in if I want!
• If the cafeteria food is bad, maybe I will drop those last few pesky pounds before we head to the beach for vacation!! :)
• It's free! All of this is free even down to the textbooks and meal plans. Whoo-hoo!

I decided that instead of looking at it as being gone for three straight weeks, I'd take it one week at a time. I will only be gone five nights before I can come home for a short weekend. That's not bad. I'm pretty sure the week will pass much more quickly than I anticipate. Between Zumba and working on my portfolio...well, you know what they say: "time flies when you're having fun." ;)