Packing List

22nd August 2012 - Packing

With limited weight allowance, a year abroad really tests your attachment to this trinket or that product. As it stands I still haven't packed a thing. You could say I am procrastinating, and you would be right. Packing means the big move is Imminent and I don't want to face up to that yet! However I have done a little in the way of research, ie: typing in 'year abroad packing' into the Google search bar and checking out the results. I don't know what I was expecting but it was definitely useful!

The Study Abroad Packing List can be found on The Study Abroad Blog, which is aimed at US students, yet student needs are the same no matter their nationality. We all need a tooth brush and a cozy hoody to slouch about in, as well as a Passport and a photograph from home.

I've copied out the list into my notebook so I can add to it, and the plan is to add my completed list here! I can already think of a few things that are not on the list that I can't live without. Such as English Breakfast Tea. Yes. I'm probably going to take a pack of Tetley with me...

23rd August 2012 - A Crisis of Wardrobe Confidence

I took a look at my wardrobe today. Now I knew I owned a lot of grey clothing, but when I started assessing potential outfits (as is important to me, shallow as that is) I started to panic. Why so much grey?! I probably own (are you ready for this?) Fifty shades of grey. Ha ha.

Moving on! I had a dilemma over having so much grey because how was I going to pack lightly when all my clothes looked the same? I would forever be know as 'The Grey Girl.' And do grey clothes mean a grey personality?! The irony of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' as a title to a pornographic novel (a novel that everyone has read apart from me...) is that it belies it's naughty contents. But I highly doubt that potential friends would look at me and think 'oh, she must be interesting underneath all that grey...'

So today I probably went to extreme lengths. I bought an OT green cardigan (all my current ones are one of three colours: navy, grey or black...) I bought a traffic light ensemble of tights to jazz up my (mostly) black and white skirts. I bought leopard print ankle boots. Call it a crisis of confidence, but I genuinely, genuinely believe that what I wear affects how people view me, and as I want to make the best first impressions possible, today's little shopping spree was necessary. Plus, tights and skirts are really light to pack. And v-e-r-s-a-t-i-l-e. I'm the kind of person who wears jeans in summer and skirts in winter. Not on purpose, but just because that's how it happens. And the ankle boots? Well I'll be traveling in my Dr. Martens, but they can be too heavy sometimes. This pair of shoes are a gem... and will add some interest to my grey jeans.

First World Problems eh?

28th Anugust 2012 - Knitwear ♥

So it is nearly Autumn, and in the fashion world that means k-n-i-t-w-e-a-r. Mmmmm, I just love knitwear! Seriously, I would love to live somewhere cold all year just so I could fill a walk in wardrobe with the stuff. Not just the fashion-y stuff either, I mean the real, heavy-duty, wrap you up and smother you kind of stuff.

So imagine my heartbreak when I reaslise that I can't go and buy new knitwear because a) the coming few months are gonna be expensive, and b) it will be far too heavy to pack. Too. Heavy. To. Pack.

This realisation, along with discovering that every potential temporary accommodation in Leipzig seems to be fully booked, has put me in somewhat of a state. Feeling pretty desolate right now. Let me assure you, though, that I'm more upset about the lack of rooms than the lack of knitwear. I love knitwear, but not half as much as I love a roof above my head...

11th September, 2012 - Help!

The case is semi packed! Wait, let me correct this - my new case is semi packed. My other little case just isn't up to the task of carrying my important life essentials to the other side of Europe. Sad really, I've taken that thing to Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and various places around England. 

You know what I discovered? Space bags. What a magical invention! That huge heap of clothes becomes a tiny, dense pocket of material and takes up half the room in your case! Shiny (:

I can't take my childhood teddy with me. (Lame? He's been with me since birth. Now who is lame? Oh, wait...) He would get squished up, and I wouldn't want to leave him in a shared hostel room; he's shy.