Pre-Trip Syndrome

Let's begin freaking out, shall we?

In the next 18 days, I need to:

• Write two 15-page research papers (one on rural development, the other on spacial-economic development).
• Write two 10-page papers (one on health sociology, the other on urban and regional planning).
• Take three final exams.
• Pack up my entire room and move my stuff back to Berkeley.
• Decide which stuff I will need in Sweden for six months and cram it all into two smallish bags.
• Figure out how I am going to get my financial aid/loan money while I'm abroad.
• Get a new ATM card.
• Figure out my new international cell phone.
• Haircut. I need a haircut.
  

Then there's the stuff I don't have to do, but in my pre-trip panic (in which I realize there is a minuscule, foreboding possibility that I might never return) feel that I must do anyway. This list includes:

• Return that shirt to Shoshi that I've been hoarding in my closet though haven't really worn, but she's in Australia so CRAP, how on earth should I get it to her?
• Clean my room. Not pack, just CLEAN. And the bathroom and the kitchen, too! Don't the batteries in the smoke detector need to be replaced? And the stairs really need a good vacuum, too.
  
• Are all my tour guiding pay stubs in one place? Did I get my tax return yet? Where did it go? My bank charged me another one of those silly one dollar fees, I should really call them about that.
  
• Write an email to that person who I've been meaning to email about meeting up for lunch, because I haven't seen them in FOREVER.
• Buy new dish towels.
• Sell some of my books online.
  

And the list continues to grow...

Sure, I could do this all when I return. IF I return.

Darn PTS. It's going to be a crazy 18 days...