late night study abroad worries: a collection

SO you think you're prepared to study abroad....right?

You think that your university's education abroad office prepared you for everything, you did the orientation, signed the waivers and attended all the meetings. You've watched countless study abroad videos and read all the travel blogs and hell you even bought a couple books on the history and culture of the country you're going to. You are a neurotic, but prepared, machine. WRONG.

I am not an expert, but I can already tell you that no matter how ready you think you are, you're nowhere near ready. Here's a few things you probably didn't think about:

1. CONTACTS/PRESCRIPTIONS/ETC.

Heyo, remember those pieces of plastic or whatever it is that you keep in your eyes in order to see? Yeah, those. You need a shit ton of them now, and Walgreen's doesn't deliver to France. Same goes for your birth control babe, your gyno isn't going to make the overseas trip to your appartement en France so you better BULK UP BUTTERCUP.

2. non-essential essentials

We all have them, those items that we LOVE and that are totally essential to our daily lives and to making our space feel like home but aren't totally practical to take on a nine hour flight, essential oil diffuser I'm looking at you. (Same goes to you book collection, half of my wardrobe, and all of my furniture/decorations). Sooner or late you're going to have to accept that your favorite arm chair doesn't count as checked baggage.

3.creature comforts

Similar to your non-essential essentials, these are the material items that life would be unimaginable without. Did you know that peanut butter is pretty uncommon outside the states, and that Netflix doesn't stream the same shows in every country? These things seem small, but when you're alone in another country there will definitely be some adjusting required.

This list could go on and on, and I'm sure it will as I continue packing and preparing and researching and eventually actually embarking on this journey, but I'm not going to let it deter me. I think that over the past two years I've been obsessed with being ready- ready to go to college, ready to love, ready to leave, ready to let go, ready to call and connect and grow and do everything that a young woman is supposed to do at this point in her life and I think that I need to stop and just be where I am. I can't prepare for the future, I've never been there, I don't know what to pack for that place or what future Katelyn even wears. What I can do, is be here. And be grateful. And be confident. The rest will be a learning process, and when it comes I won't be ready, but I'll be there living it.