If you took a look at my luggage, it is hard to deny that I came to this country with the bare minimum. There are those definite times when I regret it, but nevertheless I have made it work. I don’t know if my refusal to pack some of my America necessities has been more of a training exercise or torture. At school, I straighten my hair every day—I didn’t bring my straightener on this trip on account of the time that it got drug tested in Chicago so I’ve straightened my hair all of two (maybe three) times in the last two months. I think two months of not putting my hair under heat abuse every day is the closest one can get to reversing heat damage. However, as a result of my neglect to bring a straightener I have been forced to wear a ponytail every day. After all, being in the country that shaped their lives around mythology is not justification to let my curly hair run wild and look like Medusa every day. I also have no makeup, none. I’m definitely not the type of girl who wears the foundation, the blush, the eye shadow—I prefer something that is fairly simple to complete on the go so I just stick to eye liner and mascara in order to not look as tired. Not that I necessarily miss makeup as much as I do the control over my hair that my straightener gives me, but every day I wake up and look at myself and think “Wow, I look tired”. I could get 11 hours of sleep, which I actually did on Mykonos, and I still look like I haven’t slept in months. So in order to counteract my lack of makeup I just wear sunglasses every minute I can—they hide your eyes to the point that no one can tell what you look like and I love it.lol Something astonishing though is the fact that even though my hair is always a mess and my eyes look like I’m about to pass out, the guys here still have no problem being creepy towards me. Come on guys, where are your standards?
One thing that I am 100% positive of is that my biggest mistake about packing was forgetting sweatpants. I wear sweatpants every day at school. I seriously can’t live without them and I haven’t had a pair the whole time here. If I could redo my packing I would take out a dress I haven’t worn and substitute sweatpants, no question about it. At the end of the day, regardless of what items or clothes I forgot, I can honestly say that my smartest packed item is my raincoat because it rains every three days here.
Regardless of how little I packed for these past three months I am happy I am not like my group members who have rolling luggage, especially when it comes to the staircases in Backpackers and our various hotels. In addition to the fact that I can (with only a little trouble) carry all of my luggage at the same time while people like Molly and Lulu have to have one of the boys carry a duffle bag for them while they try roll their bags up the brick paved streets. Normally brick paved streets don’t sound like they would create a problem for anyone but these are not your average brick streets. No, these streets are a league of their own. When it comes to the streets you encounter one of two things: 1. Bricks inlayed into cement with 2-3 inch gaps between bricks where wheels can easily slip or 2. Bricks that fit together perfectly but they are chipped to the point that none of the bricks are the same height so that anyone shuffling will trip every two steps they take.
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