I'll admit it, I'm a whore when it comes to clothes. I own at least 15 pairs of jeans, more than 20 bathing suits, around 75 pairs of shoes, 30 sweatshirts, 10ish jackets, 30 pairs of shorts and if you combine tanks, tees and longer-sleeves I must have at least 200 tops. Naturally, packing four-months worth of clothes into a suitcase and a duffle was quite the challenge. I absolutely hate repeating clothes. And my definition of repeating tends to be along the somewhat insane lines of wearing the same outfit more than a few times a year. Now, before I keep going, let me just say that I'm definitely not a fashionista. For one thing I can't walk without falling in flats, let alone heels, and I don't really follow trends. I really am a tee-shirt and jeans kind of girl. My makeup routine consists of foundation and mascara, and I own a grand total of one scarf (that has never been worn). I just like varying up those tee-shirts and jeans, and even the thought of wearing the same ones over and over kind of irks me out.
So how much did I end up packing and, more importantly, how in the world did I narrow it down?
Here's what I narrowed it down to:
-8 tees
-7 tanks
-15 camis (at least layering might help me ease myself)
-2 "nice" (more formal) shirts
-2 dresses
-1 raincoat
-2 zip up hoodies
-1 oull over hoodie
-1 pair gym shorts
-1 legging
-1 jegging
-3 jeans
-1 pair of sweatpants
-1 pair of yoga pants
-1 yoga capri
-3 pj pants
-3 sleep pants
-3 sleep shirts
-1 regular skirt
-1 long skirt
-2 bathing suits
-2 pairs flip flops
-1 pairs of hiking shoes
-2 pairs of sneakers
-black flats
-nicer, going out shoes
-15 pairs of regular length socks
-3 pairs of long socks
-an absolute ton of bras and undies
Honestly, I'm pretty damn proud of myself for this, although it is rather difficult to look at my closet and still see it packed to the brim even after I have packed. But it definitely wasn't easy getting it narrowed down so much. It took 4 rounds of going through everything and eliminating more and more, but I feel pretty content with the number I have right now. I'll probably be driving myself crazy with re-wearing things so frequently that I will get rid of all of these out of pure annoying when I return, but I guess I'll survive.
So, how did I manage to bring myself down to this? To be frank, it was really all about getting into the right mindset. This trip is about discovery, aid, giving. I started thinking of the people I am going to meet, people who may never even own 7 tee-shirts, and from there I found myself saying "I don't need this..I don't need this..." And as I narrowed down my pile from 20 to 15 to 10 to 7, I felt my self-pride truly rising for having the will to say no. I'd actually really love to bring some of those "rejects" to give to these struggling peoples, but with cultures so different I am not quite sure even what clothes would acceptable for certain countries or what the meaning of me giving them would be interpreted as. Still, when I pack i'm planning on throwing some of these in, but that's really a topic of a different entry I should probably write. Anyway, to get back to the clothing debacle, I know I'll get stuff along the way, and truthfully I am kind of banking on that to at least get me through. But I guess these over-worn clothes will go right along with the over-eating of potato (I hear the ship food is a lot of potato and pasta, and since I'm allergic to pasta, I see a lot of potato in my future). Maybe these clothes can come to join the pile that I brought along my summer road trip with me; the pile that I look at and think of wearing 5 times in a month, cringe at, and promptly return to the closet in search of something new. For now, I have to keep reminding myself of those in need and stop myself from packing more. I'm pretty sure this battle won't be over until I step on the MV in a couple weeks...I can only hope I'm ready for the fight. To all those traveling anywhere in the present of future, good luck. I hope this can help even a little. Remember, Forever 21 will always be here waiting for us when we return.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
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