Packing

Here's the deal. One suitcase. One carry-on. One personal item. Four months. I have repacked this same suitcase four times now, mostly because I lived out of it for the two weeks of Christmas break. And wouldn't you know it, when you move things around and take out another outfit each day, things don't go back in the same. huh.

So I had this all planned out - a backpack for a carry-on and my laptop bag as a personal item. Then, when my sister-in-law arrived for Christmas, she returned my carry-on luggage she had borrowed a few months ago to avoid paying for one too large. So I have a suitcase, which means my beloved backpack that has been at my side through the drama of high school and the rigors of college (that same backpack I once wrote an essay about for my AP English class) was put in cold storage. Literally. it is currently living in my parents unheated garage, the poor thing. Then, at Orientation today, the instructor said the personal item must be small. "Well, mine is pretty small...ish" I thought. And then it happened. The guy in front of me asked "What about a laptop bag?" The answer, of course, was "Nope. Too big." Gahhhhhhhh. And the Jerusalem Center bag is too big to be a personal item, so it has to be packed inside another suitcase! I look at it this way- more room for souvenirs on the way home, right?

I am now 6 hours from beginning my travels. I wish I had some way to take a snapshot of myself right now and compare it to the person who will step off the plane in four months. I think there would be a lot to talk about.