Packing

So I fly to Beijing in two days, and aside from being half scared to death and half stoked that I will be living in China, it means packing everything I need for the nine months I will be away. This wouldn't be so bad, but the airlines only let you bring two bags, and they can't weight more than 50 pounds each. So I got everything out and shoved it into my suitcases. Things fit pretty well and I thought my job was done. It was not until I weighed my suitcase (easier said than done) that I realized that my luggage was a few pounds overweight. As always, the gaining the weight was much easier than loosing it.

So what do you pack to live in China? School Year Abroad (the program I am going with, check them out at SYA.org) recommends things like 40% DEET bug spray (apparently the mosquitoes are a bit friendlier in China), lots of contact lens fluid and deodorant (which is hard to fine there), and warm clothes to survive the winters (the average temperature in January is 25 degrees Fahrenheit, in Oakland its 51). What not to bring? Anything that could be seen as indecent. No spaghetti strap shirts, tattered or revealing clothing, outlandish hairstyles, body piercings or tattoos. Anyways, after I took out all of my "Free Tibet" shirts everything fit a lot better and I was just under the weight limit. Success!