Pick Up, Ship Out

Well, the day has arrived. I am packing a year's worth of worldly goods into two suitcases, a mandolin case, and a backpack. I depart tomorrow.

Of course, there's squaring away the necessaries (clothes, travel-sized toothpaste, too many shoes), along with the safeguards against deportation (visa, british bank statement, police background check). Check, check, check.

Occupying my thoughts right now, however, is the non-essentials packing list. After all, I have a flat to decorate and homesickness to ward off. So I've decided to stuff the following items into reluctant nooks and crannies:

1) A color photograph of the Rotunda at sunset. Don't judge.

2) Pictures of friends and family. I will summon my minimal craft skills and wrangle these 30 prints into a tasteful collage when I arrive.

3) About a dozen books. You may think, "how excessive! Rick Steves would be ashamed." but if you'd seen my bookcase at Virginia, you'd applaud my economy. A few titles:

- To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee.
- Complete Stories, Flannery O'Connor.
- Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Three Short Novels, Katherine Anne Porter

4) Trail maps of the surrounding regions (Smokies, Appalachian Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway), to be tacked on the walls as posters, and to serve as helpful guides to the schoolchildren about Where Exactly It Is I'm From.

5) Stationery. I love snail mail; I think it reaffirms our value as individuals when we send and receive handwritten letters. Also, one of my grandmothers proudly sniffs that she "doesn't have an Internet," so packing envelopes is as much about utility as it is about my principles.

6) I had asked the housemistress of my dormitory if my flat would have a coffeepot. She replied that this must be an area where UK and US vocabulary differ, and that it's "usually it's just a kettle and instant" over there. My normal breathing pattern returned, I now have a small stash of that Starbucks Via stuff, which is reportedly the least like poison one can find in the instant-coffee aisle. It will have to do until I can get a french press and start making the real deal.

Clearly I'm procrastinating. But before I finish packing, I still plan to go on a hike with the Parents. It's a beautiful day, and I'm going to miss this kind of heat.