I just had the most amazing cupcake from Butter Lane Cupcakes in Park Slope, Brooklyn...chocolate with chocolate caramel seasalt. Great way to begin my Bali blog! (I promise I won't only write about food...) I've been able to spend a few days hanging out with good friends Megan and Matt (thank you guys for letting me stay!) It's felt really good to not have any specific plans and to wake up whenever on Monday and not have to go to work. Yesterday I went for an hour walk around Prospect Park, and it was fun to watch the runners and not feel guilty for taking my time to enjoy the beauty of the fall leaves. As I walk down the streets and hear the leaves crunch beneath my shoes, I can't help but hear Sinatra's "Autumn in New York" in my head (..yes, I know.. cliche.) It truly is magical here in the fall. And I don't mind the 68 degrees it is today, either.

So my flight leaves at 12:20pm from JFK and I'll be on my way! 22 hours later with a stop in Korea will have me landing in Bali at midnight on Friday. Definitely the longest flight I've ever been on... I will go directly to the home stay I will be living at while volunteering at Yayasan Bumi Sehat's Youth Center (www.youthcenterbali.org) for the first 4 weeks of my trip. I'm really excited to meet the kids that I'll be working with. I've seen tons of pics of them online and they look so happy. I picked up a English grammar book today at Barnes and Noble to help me remember all of the basics of the language. Funny how I need to freshen up on something that I use every day of my life.

Anyway, I'm going to reconfigure my pack one last time and then be done with it. 'Til next time...