Eve of Parting
Hello loves.
SO
I guess I'm off! I'm planning to spend the next six months on a study abroad program far far away from NYC and Middletown, and for all my travel, I've never lived in a foreign place for this long.
My duffel and backpack are stuffed, and there's not much to do except wait to see what the next part of my life will be. I spent a lot of time researching "What to bring" and how to pack and didn't find a lot, so I thought I'd mention my packing and plane playlists here: because in my mind, planes always need a soundtrack.
As far as packing goes, I'm carrying an Osprey Farpoint 40. It was most important to me that I had a backpack that opened like a suitcase, and that could be carried on. I'm planning to use it to country hop quite a lot, and don't want to have to pay extra! My other bag is a monstrous duffel from L.L. Bean that has been in the family forever. I won't bore you with EVERYTHING I put in my bag, but here are the tips I picked up from scouring the interweb for ideas:
New York runs DEEP with me: I think every bad poem I've ever jotted down has been about how much I love my city and how inseparable we are.
A town is made up
it stands crooked and crumpled and walks to work every day
still
It's own kind
Of separation and singularity
Of secret smiles and the people watching
those smiles
I was grafted here
Budded in the grime
Arteries made callous by canoodles with
strangers in hot, metal, moving
compartments
Definitions are hard when
City= a large human settlement
And when Frank Sinatra has been singing
about it for years
People sink into their dusty couches
in the dusky hours and murmur
Turn on the news and thank god
they chose to live and die by fast walkers,
surprisingly silent snowfalls
He was wrong
you make it here
you don't know how to make it anywhere else
your fingers are happier
on a lukewarm subway pole sweaty
from someone else's palm
you've never met them, and yet, you're holding hands
SO
I guess I'm off! I'm planning to spend the next six months on a study abroad program far far away from NYC and Middletown, and for all my travel, I've never lived in a foreign place for this long.
My duffel and backpack are stuffed, and there's not much to do except wait to see what the next part of my life will be. I spent a lot of time researching "What to bring" and how to pack and didn't find a lot, so I thought I'd mention my packing and plane playlists here: because in my mind, planes always need a soundtrack.
- Playing Cards (can be used in any language, Wes study abroad eat your heart out)
- Gifts from your hometown for your host family (if you have one)
- Lots of organizational pouches for meds, make-up, and important documents (mine are very 80's, and from TJ MAXX in case you were expecting something else)
- Photocopies of your documents kept separately from their real counterparts
- Simple//layerable clothes that offer warmth
- ALSO the crazy statement piece you can't live without
- plug adapters
- the CityMapper App (I SWEAR by this bad boi)
- A day bag that can't be easily pickpocketed
New York runs DEEP with me: I think every bad poem I've ever jotted down has been about how much I love my city and how inseparable we are.
Here's a few stanzas:
A town is made up
it stands crooked and crumpled and walks to work every day
still
It's own kind
Of separation and singularity
Of secret smiles and the people watching
those smiles
I was grafted here
Budded in the grime
Arteries made callous by canoodles with
strangers in hot, metal, moving
compartments
Definitions are hard when
City= a large human settlement
And when Frank Sinatra has been singing
about it for years
People sink into their dusty couches
in the dusky hours and murmur
Turn on the news and thank god
they chose to live and die by fast walkers,
surprisingly silent snowfalls
He was wrong
you make it here
you don't know how to make it anywhere else
your fingers are happier
on a lukewarm subway pole sweaty
from someone else's palm
you've never met them, and yet, you're holding hands
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