Things I Will Miss

1) My dogs. Look at their adorably stupid little faces. Just as it's worse in films when animals die than humans, I will miss them more than my parents... sorry parents. I just wish I could explain to Charlie and Phoebe that I will be back and I'm not leaving them because I hate them.

2) Semi- sensible hair. My hair defies gravity at the best of times, and I am about to go to a very humid, tropical place without any form of hairdryer or straighteners. Have you seen the episode of friends where they go to Florida and Monica's hair goes mental? Well imagine that but blonde and sunburnt and you'll get a fairly representative image.

3) My laptop. I know that's a bit sad, but my Mac makes my life so much easier! I spend an awful lot of time writing essays/articles/musings on it, and an awful lot of time editing and playing around with photos. When I'm away I'll be using this little beast... because I felt too guilty to buy myself an ipad or anything of the sort. It's a chinese android equivalent and it cost me £50. I should be able to email and skype on it, internet connection quality-willing, and as long as it survives for most of the trip I will be happy.

4) Winter clothes and fabulous shoes. Again, it's a bit tragic but I really enjoy winter jumpers and boots and tartan scarves and mittens. There's just no place for those in CA, unfortunately.

And on to the subject of Packing: packing is not fun. Don't let anyone else convince you otherwise. For several days, possibly weeks, my packing has consisted of several semi-organised piles on the spare bed.
These piles include:

1) Colouring books I will probably be spending a while in a local orphanage (while my spanish hopefully improves enough to take full advantage of the newspaper internship.) My mom helped me choose some cheap and cheerful colouring and storybooks in town yesterday- "oh this one is lovely!" said she, picking out a book featuring a overly clingy bunny rabbit declaring "I love my mummy because she holds my hand"... Top marks, mother- probably the least appropriate book available for a group of children who have no mummy. I settled for Thomas the Tank engine's admirable knowlege of shapes.

2) Lovely smelling overpriced face things. Clarins face wash. Clinique toner. Clinique pore minimiser and happy smelling moisturisers. Grant me this one luxury- I've willingly accepted having massive, unkept hair for the next few months and nobody said that roughing it face-wise was part of the 'travelling' deal. I do have some standards.

3) Proper English Teabags For proper English cups of tea. Because you just can't get a proper cup of tea anywhere else in the world. And if I start my day with a proper cup of tea, I can achieve anything.