The Whole Erk Catalogue Tales of a Geek Abroad

The first thing I ought to mention about my departure is my relationship to Jen, my girlfriend. Obviously, she's not as keen as can be about me leaving the country for an indeterminate amount of time. We've not even been going out a year, but I am constantly amazed by how strongly I feel for her... I know it's mutual. I'm at least buffered by the fact that I'm so excited about going, and even so I lose sleep at night thinking about how much I am going to miss her. I don't like to think the kind of stress I'm putting her through.

We got into this relationship under no false pretenses; she knew I'd be leaving before we started going out. Now that I am looking at pictures of where I'll be living in three months' time, though, it's different. It's no longer an academic thing, it's an in-your-face knowledge... and much as I try to keep to less painful subjects there's no way to avoid the basic fact. I have to study my Japanese more, I have to read insurance papers about JET, I have to read the basic manual, I am starting a blog about my JET life... this is all really hard on her. Hell, it's really hard on ME.

I've had enough relationships in my life to know I've got something really amazing with Jen, and I hope so much that this doesn't fuck it up forever.

Emo Erk signin' out.