Five days!

I leave for Macedonia in five days! Two nights ago I did a trial packing run because I had almost everything I need. My suitcase weight 45 lbs... The limit is 50 lbs and should I pack too much I'll pay a hefty sum. The rest of my stuff is going in my carry-on suitcase (thanks little sister for letting me borrow it!) and that weighted in at 30 lbs. Ugh... I need to be able to lift the carry-on above my head so I can stow it in the overhead bins. Mantra for this trip? "Don't pack what you can't carry." Ideally, I thought I would challenge myself to strictly pack in the carry-on suitcase...and then I thought again. Six weeks of teaching means two weeks worth of clothes (and laundry detergent!) and two weeks of clothes, shoes, toiletries, a towel, and technology (i.e. laptop) simply will not squish into a suitcase that is 45 linear inches.

Aside from packing travails, my other source of anxiety stems from my travel schedule. Traveling to Europe severely disrupts my sleep schedule. Normally that would be no big deal, except that I love to sleep and haven't pulled any all-nighters in quite a while. Secondly, when I have traveled, I've always been able to speak the language (more or less) of the host country. Yet, just as my body decides that it will need to sleep, I will be in foreign airports alone. Thirty-one hours without sleep (or taking little cat-naps on the shorter flights) is something I'm dreading.

On a more positive note: what am I looking forward to about this trip? Seeing a new country, climbing Mt. Vodno, visiting Ohrid, and going to Greece!