Packing.

Wow. What a nightmare. I mean, what the hell? Shouldn't this be the easy part? After going through mountain upon mountain of paperwork, visa applications and bank transactions shouldn't selecting a pile of clothes and shoes be a cinch...yeah, no!!!

I've made a ton of lists, and my friend Mary even brought me one of those clothing racks they have in stores so I could keep what I wanted out without having piles on the ground, which is really nice. It's not so much hard to choose what to bring, but the thought of finding yourself in a panic overseas if you forgot something really important. And yeah, my parents could always mail me something, but that's really not the point of the exchange to always have a safety net.

I'm a light packer by nature, but it's easy to second guess yourself even when you think you have the perfect list or whatever. I have a LOT of time left and I'm working at it daily, but if you have a really long journey coming up remember to start ahead of time because a lot of planning has to go into it if you want it to turn out right. I'm just blabbing now. I'm too excited to keep quiet...