Starting to pack

Great news today!  My passport and visa finally came in!  After about 6 weeks or so, and lots of sweating over when this would arrive, it has.  So a word to the newbies out there, make sure you give yourself PLENTY of time to apply for your visa (and passport if you don't have one).  The great thing about passports is that they don't expire for a whopping ten years.  So it's quite a cheap investment.

On the other hand, I've started my packing and creating a checklist of things that I needed.  Luckily, Towson has already provided study abroad students with an awesome pre-made check list of things that should be considered and packed.  Most of these things include clothing, shoes, accessories, toiletries, etc.  But it's all written out and very detailed.  Something to make sure you look into (while packing) is to look at your countries average temperature and weather based on previous years.  Luckily for me, Italy has very similar weather to Baltimore meaning I'll be wearing pretty similar clothing to what I would normally be wearing.

As you can see, I have really started packing (not really).  Most of my prep work is beginning to wash most of my worn clothing so it's less work for when I get there.  I'm starting to realize that for the next few days, I'm going to be bumming it around my home town because most of my nicer clothes will be packed away!  Hope my friends and family don't mind seeing me in mesh shorts and a t-shirt.