Packing

Packing- (verb) to move personal belongings around from one arbitrary location to another, more sensible, arbitrary location in order to appear neat and organized; often done before moving one’s body to a new location

It feels like I have been packing, unpacking, and repacking constantly for a solid three years. I’ve been going back and forth from a dorm to my home, back to a dorm, then to my car, then an apartment, then back home. It has come to a point, healthy or not, where I’m living out of duffel bags in my brother's old room. It feels futile to pull clothes out of organized bags and put them into less organized drawers, only to reopen those bags in a few weeks and stuff everything inside them again. Safe to say, packing all of one’s belongings is a tedious operation filled mostly with stress. However, packing specifically for a trip has an entirely different feeling.

Next week I start my semester abroad with Round River Conservation Studies. Round River’s study abroad program focuses on conservation biology and fieldwork in some of the most amazing places on the planet. They have programs from Patagonia to Mongolia. I elected to skip spring’s flip-flopping stance on temperature and go straight for summer’s unwavering, oppressive heat in Costa Rica. Jungles, beaches, mountains, and a tent are all waiting for me there. I will be living out of my backpack, for a legitimate reason this time, and soaking up sunshine, seawater, everything Costa Rica has to offer. However, this journey started deep in winter’s lair searching for bargains on shorts and sifting through websites to find whatever a rashguard is. For me though, slogging through slush and braving the cold for some sunscreen is just part of the fun.

The thought of packing for something like this brings me joy instead of dread. It is an exercise in minimalism. Life condenses and every item I choose is or will be connected with experience. I am not an organized person. My room looks like it has been ransacked by thorough, picky, indecisive burglars. Every corner of it has been pulled out, moved, and left behind. But, for this trip, I made a list. It has boxes to be checked and things to be crossed out: binoculars, running shoes, tweezers. I usurped a guest bedroom and turned it into my staging room where every article of clothing I place has been meticulously folded and its exact purpose has been thought out. Everything in there is sorted into groups and each piece of gear is discrete and visible. When I check the box next to ”5 pairs of hiking socks” I can see every sock. When I cross out ”chacos” they are in my bag. Every item links to an experience in Costa Rica. Each mark moves me one step closer to that experience and fills me with more anticipation and excitement. I have every detail written down. So even while snow falls on the driveway and ice covers the trails, I can fantasize about tan lines and 70-degree nights in short sleeves and prepare myself for wet feet and mosquito bites.

Packing for Costa Rica has sparked some wild daydreams and proved that I can be organized if I want to. Although, even as I write this I remember all the things I forgot, and despite my best efforts, my toothbrush probably won't make it out of its cup in the bathroom.