John Barclay feels as though he has gone from rookie to fully-fledged Scotland squad member in the past three months.
The Glasgow Warriors flanker was a surprise inclusion in Frank Hadden's 30-man squad to go to the Rugby World Cup in France.
He could be forgiven for feeling like a bit of an outsider as both the youngest and the only uncapped member of the group who fly out of Edinburgh today.
But after an intensive period of training, Barclay is now as determined as the rest to do the nation proud.
He said: "There was always going to be a lot made of the fact I was the youngest player and the only uncapped member of the squad.
"But that has all gone away now and I feel that I'm part of the squad and it's all about everyone getting on with their job.
"We have been together now for 12 weeks and everyone knows each other pretty well, so we are all aware of what we are doing.
"Everyone has a better idea of how we want to play and physically we are in the best shape of any Scotland side to go to a World Cup."
The spotlight of the Rugby World Cup will be firmly on Hadden's men when they step out in Saint-Etienne on Sunday to kick off their campaign against Portugal.
Winning his first Scotland cap at the Rugby World Cup in France is obviously an exciting prospect for the former Dollar Academy pupil.
And he is doing his best to keep his emotions in check as he waits for Hadden's call.
He added: "There's no real last-minute nerves, I think that if I'm asked to play that's when the nerves will really kick in.
"But at the moment it's just exciting to know that after all the training we are getting to the stage where we are ready to go.
"When you are doing all the training it is easy to forget about the final goal, so it's great to know we are almost there.
"I can't really talk about how big an event it will be for me until I get there. But on a rugby side hopefully I can get a cap or even a few caps when I'm over there as that would be absolutely brilliant.
"It is nerve-wracking to realise it's the third biggest sporting event in the world. The Six Nations is big but people who don't normally watch rugby will watch this because it is a massive world event."
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