Dear Diary.

I'm scared. I'm so scared.

I leave for Shiz University tomorrow, at 9am. I already feel sick and nauseous, so I know I'll feel even worse tomorrow.

I have so many unanswered questions. What if they don't like me? I'm so, well, loved here – what if that's not appreciated down there?

I guess I just need to wait and find out.

Momsie and Pops are thrilled. As soon as I accepted they planned a celebration, a 'going away' party of sorts. It just finished, only an hour ago. I swear all of Oz was there – not that I actually knew most of them. My parents tried to make it seem like a big step, like I was entering the happiest moment of my life, but instead it just made me realise how big of a decision it really is and just put me down, so much that I managed to come and hide here in my room for awhile before Ruby found me. I know my parents had good intentions, but they just don't understand what I'm going through.

I've been wondering how I should...appear, when I get there. Should I just be me, and stay quietly in the background? But something's nagging at me. I want to be noticed, to be loved and respected. But that's not who I am! Momsie always taught me to 'be myself, no matter what the consequence', but I feel as though a different ruling will apply down there. I've heard these places are all about showing who's the boss.

But will that turn me into a bad person? I don't want to be a self-centered, stuck-up bitch. I just want to be respected.

Of course this is all theoretical. Knowing me, that'll all fly out the window as soon as I get there.

Oh Oz, the nerves are getting worse. It's like those Munchbeans they sell in Munchkinland are jumping around inside me. I swear I'm going to be sick.

I've heard about universities. How much secrecy goes on. How everyone lives their lives in two halves, like chocolate – the outside layer that everyone sees and judges, and the crumbling inside layer that is the real taste of it. That it's hard to take anyone seriously, as they could just be lying through their teeth to con you into being friends.

I hope this doesn't happen to me!

They told me I'm taking a carriage to the station, and then leaving by train. I've never been on a train before. I've heard stories, though. That it's so uncomfortable you can barely sit still for 5 minutes, and the seats are moth-eaten and filthy. That the windows are so grimy that the landscape looks as though it's covered in mud, and the food they offer tastes like rocks.

I really hope all this isn't true, because if it is, I won't enjoy this place at all, and will surely write to Momsie and Pops to bring me home.

It all depends on what happens tomorrow.