I haven't actually thought too much about packing. I decided to put off stressing about it till May - a month should be enough time, right? I found the group of people that I will be flying over and training with in a Facebook group which has been a total lifesaver! Everyone posts their questions about what to pack and there are about 2 or 3 current volunteers in the group that do their best to answer our questions. That and there is a Peace Corps Ghana wiki page! Thank goodness for the internet :) So I've been using all of those to get some ideas about what to bring & what to leave behind. But some of these kids started packing in April! I mean....wow, I kinda feel like a slacker. I talked to another invitee headed to Botswana at a an Ohio State University ceremony thing and she was leaving in 3 days and hadn't finished packing. That makes me feel a little better too...she apparently didn't start packing until a week before or something like that.
As far as freak outs go, I'm doing pretty good! I had a big-ish one at the end of March. At the end of each month I seem to get more anxious because it serves as an obvious reminder that the departure date is coming fast! After that freak out I was really relaxed for all of April; total Zen Michelle. I had a minor one the other night because, again, I realized its the end of April. I made some 10 to-do lists and tried to plan out the bazillion things I want to fit in before I leave. Then I realized that stuffing all those things into a month isn't worth the stress & that I was just trying to control something since I couldn't control how fast time seems to pass...or how I have no idea what the next 2 years of my life are going to be like. I'm 100% sure that I am going to miss the people I love and the small luxuries I live with everyday I don't notice. So now I'm as relaxed about everything as anyone can be; a little bit of stress about packing and uncertainty but no spazing-out, big emotional break downs (yet haha).
After packing gets rolling, I'm going to do some hard core Ghana research. I plan on making a power point or some kind of slide show for my going away party that gives good facts about Ghana. That way a.) I won't procrastinate about what I should be doing anyway and b.) so I won't have to answer as many questions at my party.
less than 5 weeks!
