ONE WEEK

WOW.

Bernadette departed today!! I can't believe we're all so close to being in Europe!

Well, did a BUNCH of stuff today. Basically ran around the house for 2.5 hours then took a 7 hour break... and here I am! :P

First and foremost, I finished the essential packing list! My brother was at school, and mom was doing errands. Me + home alone = blasting this and dancing all over the house!

After all that... My. Room. Is. A. Disaster. Wanna see?

Yeah. Biggest challenge: actually physically packing it into suitcases. So I suppose I'm technically not packed at all! At least everything's somewhat gathered! :)

Alright. So some other things UK related that happened today:

- Made copies of everything important. My passport, credit card (I finally got accepted!), health insurance card (my provider/plan is international... hallelujah!), etcetera. This way, if I lose one or all of them (God forbid), it should be easier to replace.

- "Crypted" important codes. On a flashcard, I wrote down a bunch of important numbers... my credit PIN, my SSN, and bank account PIN. Probably the stupidest thing you can do, right? Yeah. So I crypted all of them in various ways. For example, I made each number into a question. The number of letters in that question's answer is the number in the numeric sequence. This is probably overkill in terms of warding off identity thieves, but it also helps me because I don't necessarily have to memorize all of the numbers, since all of the questions are personal and easy for me to answer.

- Luckily, my dad went on a business trip yesterday, so he stopped by the kiosk at the airport to get me British currency. Thanks, Dad! Another thing to scratch off the list!!

Uh... yeahhhh... this is the list of things to do before Friday. Mom and I tried to organize it by day, but that was a fail!

- Finally started thinking about adapters and converters. I figure I should be okay since my dad and friends from college offered to lend me theirs. They still confuse and worry me, and it may be worth a trip to Radio Shack to make sure my laptop doesn't cry.

- Speaking of laptop, I have a Mac.

WHEEEEE!

So apparently, I had to buy the converters/adapters JUST for my Mac. Thank my lucky stingy stars that a close friend and her mother travelled to Paris recently, and are letting me use the whole international pack! I did not know that the UK and continental Europe had different outlets, though I really probably should have known that by now. So, when I travel to Paris and Rome, I can bring my computer! Fortunately, arguably other than my phone, my most important electronic should not explode. Every other electronic I bring (sorry, electric toothbrush!) is in peril. Peril indeed.

- PHONE. Thank goodness for Sarah, who went on my exact same program about a year ago. She's been so helpful! She informed me that probably the best way to go about the phone situation is to buy a phone and "top it up" with money. I had no idea what that meant when I got a calling card in the mail from St. Mary's, so I kind of disregarded it. Now I know that it is wonderful! With a company called Orange, calls that I receive from the US are FREE. YES.

     ~ I am, however, going to sign up for international calling on the phone I currently have. This is at my parents' request, as they want to make darn sure I touch down alright, and that I'm not stuck in Heathrow or Dublin or the middle of the friggin' Atlantic without any way to let them (or, for that matter, Saint Mary's) know. It is relatively cheap to set up (only $10 to make my phone international), but it is about $1 per minute on international calls. So that will only be for very specific emergencies!

- FOUND MY CAMERA CHARGER!

- Started reading this book: 

It is hilarious! I'm only about 12 pages in, but I basically plan to read it until midnight (and on the plane, I'm sure).

- ... Ate ice cream...

- That's it.

Tomorrow, I'm going to the doctor's for a final check up (just checked out of fear, no shots needed. WOO!). After that, a last visit with my grandparents, and possibly work. After all of that, I need to keep up the pace with the preparations, as tomorrow will be my second-to-last day to pack/prepare.

Why? Because I'm visiting SVC one last time for labor day weekend!!! I'll be there literally until the day before I leave... what a great way to end the summer in the states!!!