Thinking of the future

What I mean when I say I'm thinking of the future is that my exchange is very much on my mind a lot. This weekend, I traveled to New Jersey for a cousin's wedding and a gathering of family, and even got to spend my birthday on the 2nd among many relatives, on the beach, no less. That was great fun :) They are all delighted and fascinated by my choice to go and study abroad in Egypt, and have all wished me the best for my year there.
We then spent a lot of time in New York City, which was fabulous. I always enjoy being in New York City, because it's one of my favorite places in the world. NYC will be my "international gateway city" for my exchange program; that is, before leaving, all of the AFS students going to Egypt (and any other country in Europe or Africa) will converge in New York for a large overnight orientation, and then fly together to their respective countries from JFK. I found it hard to imagine that the next time I'll be in that beautiful city, it will be to leave for Egypt :D
Another reason that I couldn't get my exchange off of my mind was that I still haven't received my host family information. Actually, the other day, when I received an invitation addressed from AFS to a Facebook group for American students leaving next year, I almost got overly exited when I saw it, just because it was from AFS, because I thought that it would be my host family email! XD
Since I had very limited Internet access for most of the trip, I wondered if that long-awaited email would be buried in my unread messages when I returned home...
Sadly, it wasn't. But I'm still waiting, and I'm trying my best to exercise patience. :)
Hopefully, the next time I blog, it will be because I finally have received this all-important email XD
Until then,

Here's a picture of me enjoying my birthday in a delightful little Italian cafe in the West Village :D

Nico B. :)