Typical....

So I hate to be a downer ESPECIALLY when I am leaving tomorrow, but I just checked my credit card balance online. That alone would usually put a heavy weight on my day, but I just paid the whole card off so I was expecting a feeling of loving warmth when I opened my web browser. Not so much. The web page opened to lots and lots of red writing....and even I know that's never a good sign. Apparently, Visa experienced a merchant breech, but they are not sure who that merchant is. Therefore, the put precautionary shut-downs on the credit card numbers that they thought were in danger. Luckily, mine happened to be one of them....fabulous.

So I called Citi Bank and they told me that they were "issuing me a new account number, and my new credit card should arrive within 7-10 days". Apparently they didn't realize that I would no longer be in the country when my new card arrived.

BLAH!

Oh man....two days till my departure! Ok that sounds really corny but that was the first thing that I came up with in my head to say. I am super excited to leave, but I am starting to get a little "sentimental" shall we say? I am just going to miss the stupid stuff like knocking a 1/2 of a tune on the wall that separates my bedroom and my brothers, and then having him finish it....but oh well! I'M GOING TO ITALY!

Ok so the packing went well last night. I have all of my clothes packed up for the most part. Now I just have to focus on the "extra" stuff like my phone charger, toiletries and all the random stuff that I eventually forget about or don't use anyway. Thanks to Andrea, I am not afraid of standing out and getting babied thrown at me for my money anymore (that sentence is dedicated to Miss Allison Leffingwell and her family...).

This is taking forever...

I am still in the process of packing, which, right now, means that I laid some clothes out on my bed and left them there all day. Then when it was time for me to go to bed, I just threw them all in a suitcase for the night and haven't touched them since. I'm not even sure if I am bringing them all, and I definitely have more things that I want to add...and buy...oh man...

Everyone told me packing for this trip would be really hard, but I guess I just didn't listen to them because in my mind I figured it would be easy. Just throw a few things into a suitcase and call it a day. I imagined that packing for a 4 month trip in a place with a continuously changing climate would be the same as packing for a week in St. Croix, going to visit my grandparents, where the temperature is a constant 80 degrees everyday with the occasional one minute rain shower. I have come to find out that things are a little different.

So I guess I'm stuck. I feel like I have a 20 page term paper to write and I just keep putting it off. Eventually I have to get it done....now it is just a matter of when...

Packing

Packing for this trip is going along at a steady pace. UNH gave us all this huge long list of things that we should NOT bring....shirts with English writing on them, anything with bright colors, anything that makes you stand out....so basically I need to go out any buy a whole new wardrobe so that I will not get pick-pocketed while I am riding the train.

Other than the obvious issue I am having, everything else is going pretty well. I am moving into a fully furnished apartment so all of my linens and towels, pots and pans, dishes, everything! is there already and waiting for me.

Now it is just a matter of fitting everything that I want to bring with me into two suitcases that have to weigh under 50 pounds each. This sounds like a simple feat, but for me....this could be an issue....I like my clothes :)

Getting Ready to Leave

Oh the joys of packing...I have NO idea where I should even start. For now, this will be my first SHORT blog...I really just wanted to see how this worked. More to come!