Carley Williams: Preparing for a year abroad

If you had to pack your bags to prepare for a year in another country, what would you pack? What would you leave behind?

Like a number of Penn students, I have elected to spend all of the upcoming school year abroad. Like most females, I also tend to overpack. While the majority of students returning in the fall have virtually unlimited amounts of space to bring their belongings back to campus, I plan on spending a lot of time strategically packing my two check-through bags and single carry-on so they not only meet airline regulations but also are maneuverable enough for one very jet-lagged and out-of-place twenty-year-old to carry.

So what am I leaving behind? Aside from the obvious things like rollerblades, lamps, and most of my wardrobe, there are a lot of other things that will stay here and go on as I spend an academic year on the other side of the planet. For example, the junior tradition of Hey Day will, for me, be merely a T-shirt sent in the mail that arrives a week after the fact.

The things I will miss the most, though, are the people closest to me. Unfortunately, I can't slap an airline sticker around a friend's wrist and ask that they count toward my checked luggage. The most problematic of these partings will be, of course, from my boyfriend. What does one do with a relationship that's almost a year old but has to be interrupted for almost as long? I anticipate expensive international phone calls at odd hours of the day, and even though I know things will ultimately work out either way, the thought provides little comfort as I think about going from seeing him daily to not seeing him at all for months on end.

The purpose of studying abroad is, as far as I can tell, to learn by living -- learn a language, learn about a culture, learn about yourself as you live out your day-to-day life somewhere completely different. Maybe this is facilitated by luggage restrictions. Without them, I could pack a healthy stash of Pop-Tarts and cereal if I wanted, but then I wouldn't learn about breakfasts in China. The less you have with you, the more you have to go out and find it for yourself, and the more you're forced to interact. Interaction leads to knowledge and, hopefully for me, fluency in Chinese. I would gladly trade my name-brand shampoo for the ability to express myself clearly in a language other than that which I was raised hearing.

In the end, I know it's just stuff, and the most important things either don't require luggage space or must stay where I found them--the experiences and the people. This is why the best travelers are minimalist packers. Still, packing and deciding what stays behind can be a more lengthy process than one might think.

I also have to take into consideration the things I will be bringing back when deciding what to leave here. One of my friends went to China several years ago and had to leave some of her clothes there to make room for her local purchases. I may bring back hanging scrolls, tailored silk shirts, or Mao lighters (the quintessential Chinese tourist gift -- they have a picture of Chairman Mao on them and play "The East is Red" when opened).

Really, though, I want to bring back an exhausted but happy grin, a clear look at a country very different from our own, and a list of email and mailing addresses of new friends. And how much space will that take up in my bags? Maybe packing won't be so hard, then. But if anyone wants a Mao lighter, please tell me now, so I can reserve some space in my bag.

Carley Williams is an Asian and Middle Eastern studies major from Waterbury Center, Vt.

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