We’re leaving the country soon, and that of course means we’re leaving some things behind. A few things we’ll miss about “home”:

• Lakes: Pick one (there are lots) in which to swim and enjoy. I think it’s safe to say that we’ve spent more time on the water over the past few weeks than we have preparing to move continents. Ready access to medium-to-large-sized bodies of freshwater will be sorely missed.
• Fall in Ann Arbor and everything that comes with it: Leaves changing, school starting, old friends and new places. And that little game played in front of 110,000 people every Saturday…
• And speaking of football:  We will desperately miss being in the stands to cheer on the Wolverines this fall. The Big House (even if we wouldn’t recognize it now), the Victors, and everything. We’ve made arrangements to be able to watch the games online (via Slingbox), but it sure won’t replace that stadium atmosphere (and at 1:00 or 4:30 am, we just won’t be able to celebrate as loudly).
• People: Of course, our friends and family. We will miss you quite much, but the world is very small these days, so we’ll be sure to stay in close contact. (If you haven’t already, download and install Skype so we can call you sometime.) Leaving comments on our blog is another nice way to stay in touch; you can even get email updates if you want (sign up in the top right corner) or subscribe to our RSS feed.
• Deodorant: Evidently it may be in short supply in Korea. We’ll see about that, but I’m definitely going to bring enough to fight back the stench for a few months.

And a few things, however, that I certainly will not miss:

• My cell phone: Good riddance my dear Verizon RAZR. May your ever-beeping always-dying carcass rot in pieces at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean after I happily jettison you from the plane. Here’s to hoping Korean phones have a true silent mode.
• Politics: Yes, things are very interesting this year, but I think we’re leaving the country just in time to avoid all the craziness (before the conventions). No more political ads, news blurbs, political ads, or political ads. We’ll be voting absentee and I’m pretty sure we’ve both made up our minds already, so it’ll be nice to be free from the ever-present political buzz for a while.
• Paying rent: My apartment in Ann Arbor was nice, considering its location, but I’m certainly glad to be out of there. I don’t have much info about our place in Yongin, but it’ll be free and have A/C and a washing machine, so that should be a step up.

This is by no means an exhaustive list; there are definitely many more things we will miss (and many others we won’t realize until we’ve left), but that’s about all the procrastination time I can afford right now. It’s time to get packin': Sunday afternoon is only getting closer by the minute.