Packing.

just went to bj's with mum to buy extremely large amounts of toiletries and whatnots that i will possibly need in the next year - who knows what the italian version of cvs is like. it's nice not to have to buy them in euro's when i get there, but they're going to take up a ton of packing space. mum: do you really need 300 excedrin pills?? yes, maybe, who knows? and picked up a bright orange wheely duffle bag appropriately branded with a "ciao" label. how do you possibly pack for a year abroad? i have no idea what to expect, what will be available in the small town of colorno or if i'll have to go to parma for every day necessities, and what i'll need for the study trips across europe. (although the weather does sound promisingly warmer than here, which is way more exciting than when i studied abroad in salamanca - of course they had the first snow fall in decades while i was there). i already threw out garbage bags of stuff, took old clothes to the second hand store, and have brought boxes and boxes to storage, but it still feels like i have a ton of stuff here - it's pretty gross how much life accumulates. and even grosser that i probably won't end up using or wearing half of what i bring. it's all anticipation, preparation, the unknown.