To my best friend as you prepare for a life-changing adventure:

In less than a month, you will be boarding a plane for another continent, where you will be living for an entire semester and I am going to miss you so much. Although I will hopefully be visiting so we can take on Europe together, it will still only be for a week out of those long four months. What's a girl to do without her best friend to call at all hours of the day? I am not looking forward to losing our monthly (or bi-weekly) get-togethers, because as it is we already can barely go a couple weeks without seeing each other. We are incredibly co-dependent, but this is probably a healthy, and well-needed, break for us. At the very least, I think our moms will think so. I know our FaceTime dates will be far less frequent and we will definitely not be used to the time difference ever, except maybe when I'm with you for eight days.

Before you go pack your suitcase (without me in it I've been told), there are a few things you should know.

For starters, I am so proud of what you have accomplished and I know you will only continue to grow. You are such a kind, funny, sarcastic human being and I love you to the ends of the Earth. It amazes me how you can continue to spread happiness as you jump through all the hurdles life has thrown at you. You deserve all the world has to offer you, and so much more. That's enough of the sappiness.

I also expect you to drink lots of great wine (especially on your 21st birthday, which will not be spent with me and doesn't actually matter because I am a baby), talk me through your cannoli experience, and come back speaking fluent Italian. Please at least fake your fluent Italian and I will never know the difference.

I hope you take advantage of every new opportunity that presents itself to you and I know that you will come back a different person. I will be living vicariously through you and expect all the photos your phone will hold. You're going to experience a new culture, meet new people, take different classes, and have a whole new kind of independence. I cannot wait to hear about everything from wild nights out to your favorite professor.

I hope you fall in love, not with a handsome Italian boy (though I would not object), but with the feeling of Italy, with your morning coffee and your small dorm. I hope you fall in love with the jetlag that will be endured and the mouthwatering foods you will eat. I hope the little things make your heart leap and I can't wait for you to come home and tell me all about it.