Packing

Let me start this off by saying that I am a professional procrastinator (dear mother sitting next to me notes that this is true). I convinced myself that I was ABSOLUTELY UNABLE to pack until two days before leaving. Granted, I only had two days at home before leaving, but still. Instead, I convinced myself that it was more important to get an early start on looking for housing next term. Because I am absolutely determined not to live in the dorms or the same apartment complex I'm in this year next year, I spent my time researching other near-campus apartments. I even called them. Wait, what? Yeah. Those of you who know me know that I just love (not) talking on the phone with people I don't know. But this here Wymana ACTUALLY CALLED 10 different apartment complexes about their rooms and leases, she was so bent on procrastinating. I had the speech down. I was getting the information I needed like there was no tomorrow, and to be honest, I was pretty proud of myself for being that proactive. So much so that I ironically managed to push off the packing for another day.

Don't do it guys. Don't wait until the day before. Packing is an overwhelming endeavor when you have one suitcase, one backpack, and 9 months that you have to think about. Not to mention I still hadn't really unpacked from after fall term, so my room was a disaster. And when my living area is a disaster, I can't think. Well, I made it more of a disaster. I got out literally all my clothes, tossed them on my bed and divided them into piles. The bare bones necessities, the really important, the useful, the comfort food. I tried to stuff what I thought I needed into my suitcase. The situation soon devolved: Ha, Wymana. You're funny. You thought this would all fit in your suitcase? That's cute.

The suitcase was having none of it.

It turns out that Wymana is relatively bad at judging volumes. So she took out everything from the suitcase, discarded a few "really important" items, and repacked. Almost but not quite. So I did what most normal, lost and overwhelmed college students in a quandary would do: I called my mom. And The Expert Travel Packer answered. She helped me decide what I really needed and gave me some good Packing Efficiency guidelines. Namely, she put me through the harsh process of "how much do you really use this at home?" and "what would be cheap to get overseas?". The brutal honesty of realizing when I confused the "really important" with the comfort food was striking. There is a balance you have to strike: I think some comfort food can be near-necessary (like pictures). But pictures are flat and take up relatively little room. My bright yellow shock blanket, loved as it is, takes up more space. A good tip that actually gave me some extra room is to not overly fold things when placing them in your suitcase. Make them flatter by unfolding them to cover as much of the suitcase as possible.

Needless to say, I got what I needed in (at least I think so). Unfortunately, my shock blanket didn't make it. Nor, as some of you will be interested to know, did my fashion poncho (not that this was really even considered in the first place). They will be with me in spirit.

Another convenient thing to know is that some US flights, if you are connecting to an international flight, don't charge for a checked bag. At least, on a trip of Alaska (PDX to Seattle), British Airways (Seattle to London Heathrow), and Aer Lingus (Heathrow to Cork), my mother and I had zero baggage fee. Ka-ching.

Ah, that's the other thing. My mom decided to fly out to Ireland with me, which is awesome. We'll be travelling about Ireland a bit before my classes start.