Packing

Packing... It was as hard as I imagined it would be if not harder. To be honest, I'm not sure I've ever felt more high maintenance. I all of a sudden had an emotional attachment to articles of clothing, or maybe the thought of being over there and not having the exact thing I needed scared me. My first attempt ended in at least a quarter of my stuff not even fitting in the backpack. Items that I had deemed necessities laying outside of the already busting zippers. So I unpack. Reassess. Start again by choosing the things I absolutely can not live without. I think I parted with three items. Repack. No go. This process of unpacking, purging, and repacking went on four or five times until I could finally get the bag zipped. Never once through all of this did it cross my mind that I would actually be carrying this across Europe. Forty-seven pounds on your shoulders will make your arms go numb in about 10 minutes. Not feasible. Process repeat. Here's the list of items that made the final cut:

2 pairs of jeans

3 pairs of shorts

1 skirt

2 dresses

6 shirts

1 leather jacket

1 black cardigan

5 sets of gym clothes

1 pair of sleep shorts

2 bathing suits

2 pair of sandals

1 pair of black flats

1 pair of tan flats

Nanos

Lifting shoes (most inefficient pair of shoes to pack ever)

Rope, wrist wraps, and grips

Hair straightener 

Aside from a phone, iPad, a few toiletry items, and a journal, that's about it.  As painful as this process was, it was the first time that everything really sunk in for me. Those 60 items are what I have for the longevity of my trip. Gone are the days of changing clothes three times a day. I'm sure there will be things I didn't need, things I use all of the time, and things I wish I would have packed, but I guess that's the fun it all. I've only been here three days, and I'm already learning to think out of the box when it comes to clothes. Mix-and-match. Rewear. I've got this. Although, it definitely helps that I never really see the same person more than two days in a row. If it doesn't smell dirty and doesn't look dirty, is it actually dirty :)