packing.

In 48 hours, I will begin my Australian adventures with a 14 hour flight from Los Angeles, CA to Brisbane, AUS. I have the great opportunity to participate in a unique sports medicine study abroad program through Xavier University. We will be traveling from Brisbane to Lennox Head, Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne. It is a group of about 20 students from different universities and my friend Lexi, who studies Athletic Training with me at the University of Michigan! Throughout the program we will be learning about the Australian health care system, popular Australian sports, and the Australian sports medicine field. I am extremely excited to be exposed to new sports such as surfing and rugby, as well as comparing how sports medicine differs between the United States and Australia. I am also particularly excited to visit Sydney because my friend, Leanne, will also be studying in Sydney at the same time!

But before I can even begin to think about that I need to finish packing. Or start packing actually. This week started off a bit hectic. After packing up all of my stuff last week to move houses after classes finished, I realized that I had packed my passport. With the help of my roommates, Taylor and Leanne, we went through all of my ten boxes several times, but could not find it. I normally do not lose things, especially important items like my passport, so it was a stressful situation. I was luckily able to get my passport expedited and it arrived a couple of days ago, but it was not easy and pretty costly. On the plus side, I no longer have braces in my passport picture! 

Throughout the week I have been slowly preparing for my trip by completing the assigned readings, pinning Australia-related pins on Pinterest, and constantly checking the weather so that I have some idea of what to pack. Packing lightly is definitely not my strong suit and having a 40 lb. weight limit when traveling within Australia is causing me some anxiety. Especially since the weather will be ranging between 50-70 degrees Fahrenheit, which makes for an awkward limbo of packing clothes for both warm and cold temperatures. Even though I have been thinking about it for the past several weeks, I know I will fall back on my usual packing method: pack a couple hours before I have to leave for the airport and hope I don't forget anything.

Wish me luck!
Nicole