Last Day In The States

So I spent today packing, picking up some last minute items from CVS where I spent too much money as per usual, having my reading rebound at Kinkos, and watching the two movies I had from Netflix.

Now to address my full day in reverse order.

The two movies were "The Terminal" and "Sense and Sensibility." I enjoyed them both, and now my account is on hold so I don't have to pay for it while I am not using it. Gotta love Netflix.

As for the reading, the professors posted all of the reading online, and recommended we print it out at home and bring it with us since there is only one printer at The Villa. So, I printed it all out, took it to Kinkos to be bound, and am now the proud owner of four huge readers. Sadly, they added two more articles this past week, so I could either leave the two new ones out or have Kinkos add them to the books. I chose to have Kinkos put them in so I don't lose anything. It will make it easier to deal with, but man, there is a ton of reading.

CVS was necessary for face wash and sunscreen, among other things. I ended up spending more than I wanted, but I figure I will use everything, and whether I use in DC or Italy doesn't really matter. The main thing is that I don't want to run out of anything there and then have to find the equivalent of what I use. So I have full bottles of everything and will probably come back with extra, but oh well.

I have packed one big suitcase, with all of my clothes and toiletries, one carry-on with my readers, extra fun books, and electrical stuff, and then the carry-on for under my seat with my reader for the first week, some pleasure reading, my computer, and some snacks. Lee Catherine also has two carry-ons and one bag to check. However, her back is much smaller than mine, and I am wondering if I over packed. I also don't really have room to bring stuff back, and I remember the fiasco last time where I ended up buying a bag off the street, and I really do not want to do that again (remember that Dad? quite the adventure). So, I may be going through my bag again tonight or tomorrow morning to purge some stuff. The big issue is I don't want to be too casual for class, and I want to make sure to have stuff to wear for dinners and such, but I feel like the weekends will be much more casual. Sigh, so much to take into consideration. And the big question...drum roll please...what stuffed animal do I bring? I like to bring one to sleep with that goes in my luggage, and then I bring one on the plane to act as my pillow. The one I was going to bring might be too big, unless I move some stuff around, which I might do. Luckily I don't leave until 3, so that gives me the whole morning to ponder and change things.

Hours Until I Leave For Italy: 19 (about)

One Week

Hard to believe, but in a week I will be in Italy. It still doesn't seem quite real to me, probably because I am no where near ready to go. I am also still caught up in my internship, which ends on Friday. :-( My plan is to work on laundry tonight, and to begin setting aside things I know I want to take with me. I also have to pull out my summer stuff, which is stored under my bed at the moment, as it is still too cold here to wear it. I have a feeling this is going to be quite a long process.

I made plans to meet with Andrew this week, a fellow American University student going on the trip who is also on my flight. I think we will work on the logistics of getting to the airport and all that fun stuff. I also picked up a travel book for my time in the South of Italy after the program ends, and that is exciting, but still in an out there kind of way.

Anyway, the point of this was just to say wow, its coming up realllly soon, and yet it still doesn't seem real.

Countdown Until I Leave for Italy: 6 days