Fitting My Life Into A Suitcase Is Difficult

I'm trying to put everything that I might possibly need for the next semester into one large, red suitcase, one small duffle bag, and one standard backpack that has been worn down from my first two years at college. But trying to plan out what I might possibly need in a place that I've never been before is much harder than it looks. Like, how am I supposed to know if I'll need to bring Scotch tape? I'm sure they'll have tape in Freiburg, but should I be safe and just take it? Or should I wing it, save space, and hope that I don't need tape. That's just a lame example, but I've been secondguessing everything in my bag and contemplating buying more. If I were bringing all of these things to college, a mere car load, I would overpack to my heart's content and it wouldn't matter-but this is uncharted territory.

I'm very excited to go to Germany, so excited that I've wanted to say "ta-ta for now, USA" in the best way possible. This weekend, my family and I went out to visit some family in Shelter Island; an island off of the coast of Long Island, that is only accessible by ferry. We had a lovely beach day, and I was prepared to finally let go of the East Coast summer and welcome long Alpine hikes. However, the beach wasn't ready to let go of me. While swimming in the bay, I cut the bottom of my foot on something sharp hidden in the water. Unexpected, definitely. And this definitely puts a damper on the hikes for a while.

The ER doctor told me to "stay off of it." Well, that's definitely not going to happen. There's no way I'm arriving in a new place and not taking full advantage and exploring every part of it. Sorry, foot, you'll be suffering for experiences. Hopefully a long plane trip will make everything better, it usually does, doesn't it?

A good thing that did come from this is that I discovered that my Band Aid and first aid supplies are sorely lacking. Before going to the airport tomorrow I'll have to stop by the drug store and buy them out of gause, tape, Neosporin, Bactin, the list goes on and on. Emergency medical supplies are now most of what I'm bringing to Germany--you can never have enough. It can't hurt to bring more.

Even though I'll be hobbling through Freiburg for a week or so, I can't wait for the adventure to begin!