Packing

CHICAGO, IL -- The countdown is officially on... 5 days till I leave for London! With that, it is increasingly important that I actually start packing. One of the toughest things about packing for London for over a year is the mixed psychology of wanting to be prepared for anything that comes my way, as compared to the idea that I can bring what I want and buy what I need as situations arise. For example: snow boots are really heavy and take up a lot of space in a suitcase, BUT, to buy a good pair over there will set me back minimum $150. Thus, they go in. But what about gloves? Snow pants? I'm thinking yes to the former, no to the latter. In any case, I have four suitcases to fill, and I have to pack all of my linens in addition to my multi-seasonal clothes. Should I even try and fit a printer in there? Hmmmmm...

Good news: I just received my specific program induction schedule. We have an evening induction with our professors for our mandatory courses, and an afternoon one at the library. The LSE library is the largest social sciences library in the world, so knowing there is a formal introduction really calms me down from the prospect of having to navigate it solo.

More good news: Just found out that a People to People friend needs to be in London for work at the end of October, and we now have dinner plans and she's trying to get tickets to a show in the West End! :)

Even more good news: Chelsea won again the other night, and is now 5-0-0 to start the season (4-0-0 Premier League, 1-0-0 Champions League)! It is illegal to arrive in London without having picked a football team to root for, and thus about a month ago I settled on Chelsea for a variety of reasons (I know more about them than most teams, they play a quality style game, good colors). In Vegas I put some money on them to win the Premier League, and so far so good!

That is all for now - one suitcase down, three to go!