Prepping for Departure

Hi all!

I've never blogged before but thought I'd give it a try as I'll be away for the entire month of July.  Thought it might be a good way for me to keep track and reflect on my month abroad as well as a way for my family and friends to keep tabs on what I'm up to and verify that I am, in fact, still alive! ;)

I've been looking forward to this trip for quite some time, but having packed makes it even more real!  Shout out to Lauren for letting me use her suitcase!

Speaking of packing, I'm usually a super light packer- but having to figure out what the heck to bring for a month away was really tricky.  On top of that, I almost keeled over when I lifted the suitcase after the first attempt at packing it.  

So off to target I rushed to get one of those handheld luggage scales.  (Figured with all the international trips we take students on, it was a good investment.)  You hook it on to the top of your luggage and pull and it lets you know the weight pretty accurately.

After a couple more rounds of packing and unpacking...the grand total was....37 lbs.  I have no concept of whether that is WAY too much or just about right as I usually carry on!

At any rate, I will be really buff in one arm by the time this trip is over.

I leave tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning to head to JFK.  15 hour flight to Johannesburg and another 2 hour flight to Cape Town.  

Hopefully I get to update this at least somewhat regularly.  In the mean time, I've also setup a hashtag on instagram so you can follow along there-- it's #southafricastudyabroad.

Time to finish my last minute errands and enjoy my last night in Brooklyn!

Maura