Thoughts on Packing...

You're always going to forget something, so it's better not to overthink packing.  

I always overthink it anyway.  It makes your last few days at home needlessly stressful and really prepares you mentally for the trip.  

I have checked, double checked, and triple checked for converters, adapters, chargers, contacts, clothing, cleats, shinguards, toothpaste, and deodorant.  I have contacted my host family, signed my player contract, learned a little about the Swedish culture, looked at the game schedule, planned a trip to Rome and Florence and Stockholm.  

And then it just recently dawned on me that a good addition to the packing list is my passport. What a tremendous oversight that would have been.  

It has been awhile since I have done a blog.  I'm never very good at keeping up with it, but I am interested in keeping up with it since the human mind lets so many things slip away unremarked upon.  It's a handy way to look back later and remember the things that impacted you the most in your time away.  My goal is at least a post a week.  I will try to adhere to it.  

Everyone always mentions that journaling is more powerful than blogging.  I may venture into that as well, but I think trying to keep a promise of a post a week will remind me to chronicle my adventures better than a small book that no one will ever know if I wrote in it or not.  I'm taking my chances on the "less meaningful"  technology blog.  Plus my handwriting gets poor after the first few sentences and sloppy handwriting is hard to read later.  

Of course I worry about other things besides packing...  Primarily being away from home for such an extended period of time.  I have plans to keep my self busy.  There is a sweet little public library on the island which has a decent collection of books in English.  I'll see what I can find there.  I'll have a bike to get around and explore the Visby wall and every other thing I can think of.  I always manage to stay busy.  If I find that I am seriously lacking entertainment I can always tune into the news online and observe the hoopla surrounding the looming elections (hah.).

My time in Chattanooga was short, but I enjoyed our (mom, dad, me) impromptu "vacation" in Houston.  It was good to spend time with them before I am gone again.  Everyone keeps telling me that I "can't sit still."  I wonder if one day I'll just run out of steam... 

I am grateful to everyone who has encouraged me to go on this adventure.  Perhaps it would have been easier to stay.  To filter myself directly into the workforce and rush into the next chapter of my life.  This trip is a sort of short author's note in between chapters.  Stuck in there to remind the writer that it isn't just about writing the book, but what the contents of the book are.  No one wants to read a large volume of complete rubbish.  

My bags are packed (kinda).  I'll be in touch.  

Hejdå för nu.  

(And thank goodness for google translate...)