s'inquiéter (to worry)

A few weeks ago a customer came in and wanted a few slices of fudge, he seemed to be cheerful and pleasant. A winning combination in retail!  I always try to match my attitude to the customers attitude- if they're quite I'll be quite. If they want to chat, I'm more than happy to chat. Happy customers are always more fun to help, especially when they come in between several nasty customers.  

This older man came in knowing exactly what he wanted: four medium slices of chocolate fudge. As  I was slicing his fudge he started asking me about my weekend. I told him that I'd been here, at Hallmark, all weekend. "It must be nice to have extra cash, though," he said. I told him that, yes, I'm very glad to earn whatever I can because I'm going abroad next month. 

He asked the normal questions; where are you gong, why, for how long, etc. He then told me that he'd never been outside the United States except for a brief stint over the Mexican boarder when he lived in New Mexico.  He said that when he was younger he exchanged traveling abroad for exploring the national parks, unlike many of his friends. "If I could do it over, I'd do it differently," he said.

This was an eye opener for me. I know I'm lucky/blessed/privileged to have this opportunity to study abroad, but sometimes all those things get clouded by worries and stress.

Should I just focus on graduating and not go abroad? How will I pay for next semester because I'm not working for a few months? Should I stop taking gap semesters?

But if I don't do this while I'm young, when will I?

I'm calming my fears and taking care of my pre-trip jitters because this trip is important to me. Not just to learn the language, but to gain experience and grow as a human. I'm not going to waste the time I've been given by worrying about things I have no control over.

However, I've stress cleaned and organized so much that my room is looking pretty fantastic.

Away with fears for the future, Quebec and adventures wait for me!