Doing "Big Girl" Things

Excuse me while I get a little excited for a minute. I'm so proud! Paige and I just planned our first weekend trip...ALL BY OURSELVES! Booked bus, plane, hostel, everything! I'm not going to lie, it was absolutely terrifying, but next Thursday we are all set to leave for 3 days in Geneva, Switzerland! I can't wait! Our entire trip including the roundtrip airfare, hostel and bus to Madrid cost us less than $300. If any of you have been there, we'd love suggestions as to what to do while in Geneva.
We only have 2 more days of orientation left, then we take our level tests on Friday (yikes! wish me luck!) and Friday afternoon we leave for Morocco! I'm sure I'll have lots of stories and adventures to share from that trip. A day after returning from Morocco, we will head out to Switzerland!

So while I'm busy being a big girl over here in Europe, I'm secretly still asking my mommy to help me out a bit. Don't judge. I really grossly underestimated how cold it would be in the houses here, as I said before. I didn't really pack enough sweaters and warm things, and when it takes about 5 days for your laundry to dry outside it can rough having enough things to wear. Cue mom. My mom was nice enough to get together an awesome care package for me, which I should hopefully be receiving in the next week to 10 days. Pray that it gets here safe and sound! As a special feature for this blog, I'm featuring a section about sending packages abroad, as written my my wonderful mom!

On sending packages abroad, as told by Carey Rysiewicz:
Just got home from my trip to the post office and I can’t stop the theme song in my head!! “I’m so excited! And I just can’t hide it!I’m about to lose control….” But I guess I better save the official happy dance until I find out IF Kira actually receives my skillfully packaged parcel in Spain (hopefully in 6-10 business days!) It’s a well- known fact that my generation of parents are referred to as ‘helicopters’ and although I generally TRY to back off and am proud of my self-sufficient children, there are times when its just plain hard to not butt in and offer some unsolicited advice! I had lots of words of wisdom for my soon-to-be-world-traveler college daughter, Kira, especially when it came to packing. Most of my suggestions were well accepted, but a few were not… and while I would NEVER be one to gloat or say “I told you so”… a week after her arrival in Granada, a care package is on the way! Seriously though, it is really difficult to be completely prepared no matter how many lists you make and those darn luggage weight limits are tough when packing for almost five months!! I don’t know a mom alive who wouldn’t want to help when their kiddo is a million miles away and is cold (no central heat). She didn’t bring her unfashionable fleece jacket, or a heavy sweater, or the dumb long sleeve thermal -shirts Mom kept trying to put in the suitcase! Not only is she cold, but WET! No towels provided by the host Spanish mom. Thank goodness we stuffed one towel in last minute! Too bad the towel is always wet; no clothes dryer or central heat, remember?!  Now I feel compelled to share my package- packing challenge with you! If any of you need something mailed to you when studying abroad, some of this information may be helpful. After I gathered all the things Kira needed (ok- all the things MOM thought she needed! I am, after all paying for this package!) I quickly did some on line research for the best way to ship a box abroad (not something I had ever needed to do before.) The Post Office will typically have a rack or kiosk area with all of these free flat rate boxes and labels. You use the exact same flat rate US boxes for shipping internationally. I looked at the size options on the website and decided to go with the medium size side open box for $47.95 with a 20lb limit and dimensions of 13 5/8 x 11 6/8 x 3 3/8.  I didn’t have one at home, so I measured it out on a piece of newspaper, drew the box size on a large sheet of newspaper, laid everything on the bed and then folded and refolded, and refolded until I made it work! I used a vacuum sealed space bag I purchased at the Dollar Store to compact my neatly folded stack and keep it all contained in the box and it worked PERFECTLY!! (after 4 tries!)This was truly amazing!! Did I mention I love this kind of thing??! I was smiling the whole time too, just knowing Kira would be warmer and drier and that even though she’s 21 and perfectly capable of solving this kind of little dilemma, it’s still nice to be needed!!   So keep your fingers crossed that Kira will get her box sometime in the next couple of weeks!! Here is what I managed to fit into this not-so-very-big space…(Drum roll please…) 1 fleece jacket, 1 long bulky cardigan sweater, 1 crew neck sweater, 1 dressy blouse, 2 thermal T-shirts, 2 thick pairs of fuzzy socks, 1 beach/bath towel, 2 micro fiber face towels, plus 20 bandaids stuffed into one sock and a small lock and key for her backpack. That’s a lot of stuff in a 12x12 space!!! I should have marked the front of the box with a huge WARNING sign: Caution! Contents under pressure! Open carefully!! Check back later to see if her care package arrives!  Xo  love, Mom