It's my time!

The time has finally come to start my Peace Corps adventure. Can you believe it?! Tomorrow at 7:30am, I will be on flight to Philadelphia for my pre-departure staging to Albania. 

You know what that means….PACKING! How the heck are you suppose to pack for two years?! Well, that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to figure out for the past two days. I’ve narrowed it down to the essentials:

Clothes
-Winter attire! (As I’ve heard countless times from previous volunteers and the recruitment staff, Albania has very cold winters!)
-Summer attire (uh, hello….I’ll be hours or less from the beautiful albania coast, not to mention Greece and Italy)
-Business Casual Wear (highly emphasized by the Peace Corps staff! I hear Albanians are very fashionable.)
-Workout clothes (how could a fitness guru not bring workout clothes with her?)
-Shoes to fit the attire (hiking boots, flat dress shoes, healed dress shoes, winter boots, running shoes, and flip-flops)
-socks and underwear (fit as much as possible!)

Camping Equipment
-Tent
-Sleeping bag & liner
-Sleeping pad
-Multi-fueled stove
-Mesh kit
-Headlamp
-Pots and Pan kit
-Utensil Kit

Electronics
-camera (I definitely want to document as  much of this experience as possible)
-laptop (couldn’t live without)
-kindle (much lighter than carrying all my favorite books)
-iPhone (I know what you are thinking: ok this might be too materialistic for the Peace Corps, but if it helps me stay sane, it will be worth it! Plus, it could double as an iPod)
-VitaMix (What is a VitaMix, you might ask? Well, it’s only the coolest blender to exist on the face of the earth, and it’s every nutritionists god-sent appliance. I remembered how difficult it was to get healthy meals in 3^rd world countries, being a vegetarian and everything. So I promised myself that I would never let myself get in that situation again. So the VitaMix is coming with me :) )

Other random things:
-Reusable water-bottle
-Thermos
-Shaker cup (to make protein drinks on the go, or could double as a cup for other beverages)
-Gifts for host family
-Pads and tampons (Probably too much information, huh?. But I thought it might be important for future female volunteers to know. I definitely stocked up on these, since I hear Albanians are weirded out by the concept of tampons! haha)
-Towel
-Deodorant
-Makeup
-Straightener (which might end up being thrown out if it doesn’t work in the Europian outlets)
-Shampoo, Conditioner, and Body soap (I hear that it might be difficult to get these during staging and PST, so I’m stocking up now just in case)

Now the question is, how do I fit all of this into two suit cases and still get it to weigh less than 100 pounds (plus two carry-ons)? Well I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Focusing on all this packing has distracted me from coming to terms that I’m leaving the US for two whole years. It definitely hasn’t hit me yet. But I’m sure once I get on the plane tomorrow, I bet I’ll feel it. Nevertheless, I’m excited and anxious to meet all the other volunteers of Group 16 Albania. I have no idea what to expect! Eeeek! I can’t believe it’s finally here!