Packing is Just Plane Simple

Sorry for the awful pun, I'm just Tube excited to use the London Punderground. Okay. I'm done, I promise.

A little bit about myself for anyone who doesn't know who I am: My name is Christine Wang, and I'm a sophomore at Northern Illinois University studying accounting with double minors in history and political science. I'll be embarking on a two week trip to Europe as part of the International Business Seminar (IBS), visiting London, UK; Paris, France; Geneva, Switzerland; Heidelberg, Germany; and Amsterdam, Netherlands. I'm from Naperville, IL and the only country I've ever traveled to outside of the US is Taiwan, where my parents and two brothers are from. Thus, the opportunity to visit Europe is one of the best things that I could possibly wish for, and I'm incredibly excited to embark on this trip. I also love terrible puns, which you might see if you continue to read this blog series.

As per usual, I've left my packing to the end, and now I'm running around, leaving a mess and throwing clothes everywhere. I keep thinking, "What do I bring on the plane? What would I need in Europe? What if the hotels don't have shampoo and conditioner? Where can I get money from? What if I run out of room in my suitcase?" Even though I know the answers to all those questions, thanks to some really great advice from both IBS and the NIU Study Abroad office, they still keep running through my head. Packing lightly has always been an issue for me, but moving back and forth from DeKalb to Naperville and back again has definitely taught me what I need to do to pack lightly and efficiently.

I can't believe that I'll be touching down at Heathrow in about 24 hours from now. I'm going to be leaving for the airport at 1 pm and hopefully get through security quickly, and then hopefully find my terminal. I've never traveled alone before, and by alone I mean without a close friend or without family. I think the part that makes me most anxious is that part. I don't know anyone in IBS, and while I'm sure I'll make friends easily, I'm really worried that I won't find my fellow flightmates from NIU. I'm probably just overthinking it.

While we're in London, we're going to be doing a lot of really exciting things. We'll be visiting Leicester Square on day one; a tour of London on day two; a company visit and a tour to the Chelsea Football Club and a possible entry to their museum, as well as a scavenger hunt in the Museum of London on day three; a presentation on the European Union and what it's like to work in it, and I get to celebrate New Year's Eve in London on day four. On day five, I'll be taking the train with the rest of the IBS students and faculty to Paris. What surprised me most when I looked at the itinerary was that there was a train you can take from London to Paris. For some reason, I didn't think that was possible because of the channel, but after thinking about, why wouldn't they have a system for crossing the channel? I mean, there are massive bridges and subway systems all around the world. It makes sense for the UK and France to have one too that connects their countries together.

I should finish packing, so I'll get back to that and leave this post pretty short. I will post again (with pretty pictures!) when I'm in London, about a third of the way around the world!