Packing List

       I have a stress, and that stress is packing.  How do I fit a years worth of clothes plus host family gifts into one suitcase and a carry on?!  Plus, what will I be trying to bring home two summers from now that I need to leave space for?  I'm usually pretty good at packing sensibly, but this is just crazy.  To relieve some of this stress, I decided to start my packing list.
       I'm a big fan of lists, but I have found that it is a common misconception that list makers are organized people.  I am telling you now, that is not true. Though I may make neat, structured lists, the frequency with which I lose them is very high.  So when I started to make a packing list 3 and 1/2 months in advance, I knew there was no way it was going to last until July.  Then it hit me!  Put the list on my blog!  This way I can't lose it, I can still edit it, and maybe I'll even have some helpful readers jump in with a suggestion or two as to what I'll need!   So please, give me all your wisdom as to what I absolutely have to have, and what should stay here in Michigan.  So without further ado, I'd like to introduce:

Mary's Super Duper Packing List

1. Large American flag
2. Host family gifts
3. Banners from Northville Rotary club
4. Pins
5. Large rolling duffel bag
6. Carry on bag
7. Backpack
8. 2 simple dresses
9. 2 pair jeans
10. 1 pair leggings
11. 2 pair thick tights
12. 2 pair shorts
13. Favorite pair of fuzzy sock
14. Laptop (This is still a very contested item.  If you have any experience with the worth of having a computer on exchange, please chime in!)
15. Large jar of peanut butter
16. Running shoes
17. Sandals
18. Leather boots
19. Converse (Trying to cut down on shoes is so difficult)
20. 7 shirts
21. 2 scarves
22. 2 cardigans
23. Rotary Blazer
24. Winter jacket

I still don't know exactly what luggage I'll be taking so I may have way less or way more space than all that stuff would require.  At the moment I'm trying to figure out how to maximize the amount of clothing I'll wear on the plane.  Not too bad a look, right??

This would be so much easier if I wasn't leaving at the end of July when it'll be 90+ degrees in Detroit...

~M

Distrikt and Dates

       Distrikt as in the German district of 1850 and dates as in flight departures, not romantic dinners!  So I'm already having trouble keeping this silly thing current but below you will find the narrative that I wrote the day after I found everything out.

       Wednesday afternoon, I got home and flipped on the computer.  As always, I opened my email hoping to see some news from Rotary, thinking  about how pathetic it's become to do this everyday. Sitting there surrounded by twitter notifications was an email titled "Rotary Youth Exchange".  With racing heart, I opened it, quickly skimming through a choppy email that was signed, Your German Youth Exchange Team.  It told me to follow a link to a website where they had a login for me and after searching the different tabs, in the bottom corner of the last one I found one minuscule box labeled Distrikt 1850.  Excitedly, I typed that clue into Google and it showed me that I will be living in the Northwest corner of Germany in Lower Saxony!

       The district borders the North Sea and the Netherlands.  It seems to be largely a farming community with a few larger cities like Bremen and Oldenburg.  I'm in love with all the old architecture in the area!

Old marketplace in Bremen

I posted my assignment onto a huge facebook group of rotary kids, and was automatically approached by an Aussie and an American who are in D1850 right now. I've talked to them some and I think that I will really enjoy my time there!
       A few days later, my YEO sent me an email that included all of the departure dates by district.  School in Niedersachsen starts earlier than most of the other states in Germany so I will leaving this great state of Michigan between July 29th and August 4th.  This is a few weeks earlier than I had anticipated so I will need to adjust some of my summer plans in order to fit everything in!  I have now officially started a count down, today I am 119 days away from GERMANY!!

       In other exchange related news, I've discovered Doulingo.com, a free, language learning site.  It is similar to Rosetta Stone with the main differences being the language selection and the crazy Rosetta Stone price! I highly suggest if you're learning Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, or German that you take a look at Duolingo.  I also believe they're working on a version for Mandarin Chinese so you can look for other languages in the future!

Happy Easter!
~M