Predeparture Preparation & Procrastination

Try saying that 10 times fast.

My level of excitement on a scale of 0-100 (100 being most excited):

100

My level of preparedness on a scale of 0-100 (100 being most prepared):

-5

Fun Fact: I leave for New York (where I’m flying out of) in less than 70 hours.

Question of the day here, how do you prepare yourself for the adventure of a lifetime?

You’d think that since I will soon be living on the other side of the planet for 5 months, I would have avoided procrastinating in packing for this, or at least have started unpacking from my last 3 weeks in Ithaca.  But HAHA I’m a college student and that’s my best excuse.  

So here I have the biggest, emptiest suitcase I’ve seen in my life and a whole bedroom of clothes, memories, and dirty dishes to fit inside of it. 

A lil’ anxiety or nah?

Other feelings that I have realized are normal during your final days home:

•     Excitement
•     Terror
•     The feeling that it's not real  

I don’t know how else to describe “the feeling that it’s not real”, other than it just doesn’t feel real.  I planned to craft some word to express this feeling, but it’s still too early for me to consult my creative juices (which usually start brewin' around 3AM and is super great for my sleeping schedule).

In an attempt to share some of my "intelligence," I bring you:

7 Tips on Preparing for Predeparture

1.  Get your DOCUMENTS – passports, visas, credit cards, currency, etc.,  straightened out months in advance. 
2.  Study your flight itinerary so you know what to expect – I recently realized it only takes 15 hours not 34 to fly from LA to Sydney.  When you’re flying across multiple time zones and the International Dateline, it helps zero by just looking at your arrival and departure dates/times.
3. Do not overthink packing.  What’s more important: the material things you bring from home, or the intangible, irreplaceable experiences you will soon encounter? I don’t think I’m going to have a panic attack if I forget my tweezers.
4.   Cuddle with your dogs.  A lot.
5. 
   
   
   
   
   5.   Eat your favorite foods from home AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.  Although it’s summer/bikini season when I arrive in NZ,  I still followed through with this. 
   
   
         I don't regret it. 
   
   
   6.  Get pumped.  Let’s just pause a moment and consider why studying abroad is so great: 
         
        You can go just about anywhere you want to in the entire world.  You live in a culture you've never even experienced before.  You meet all sorts of people from all sorts of places. You take the bare minimum of classes (well at least I am).  You have a free pass to just live. AND THEY CALL THIS “STUDYING.” 
   
   
   7.  I hate sounding corny, but make the people you love smile.  There’s nothing worse than leaving them on a bad note.  Make them laugh, treat them to a meal, whatever.  I know, it’s not like I’m never going to see them again.  But those most recent memories are going to stick with both you and them… and you’re going to want them to be good. 
         P.S. I sort of screwed this one up when I (accidentally) broke my friend’s laptop the last time we hung out.  Sorry Jez I love you.

On the up side, I’m ready to part with Ithaca and here is why:

Photocreds to Gregory Markert

Rating my preparedness as a -5 is probably an exaggeration.  Here I am with all my important documents I cannot lose, a hopefully-soon-to-be packed suitcase (at least I have the thing), a flight itinerary, and a very intense exhilaration to start my journey (possibly my favorite emotion I’ve experienced in my life).

But, am I really… “prepared?” How do you prepare yourself for the adventure of a lifetime?

Well, trick question, because I’ve decided that you don’t. You just have to roll with it. 

(I hate trick questions too, sorry)

Keep Happy,
Em