The Packing Conundrum

What exactly does one pack for a whole year away from home? This is a question that I´ve become very familiar with. Today marks my last day at home, since I´ll be flying to Oslo tomorrow. I´ll be spending the night, so there will be time to run a few last errands and spend my last night in the country with family. 

I´m just about done packing, and I feel like I´ve cracked the code. The tricky thing with packing for a year abroad, is that you´re going to be gone for a year. You are not moving there permanently, and you are not going there for a short vacation. This means you have to make the most out of your luggage space. This also means no packing your toucan print Adidas jumper, or your super heavy green platform sandals. All the clothes I´ve packed are wardrobe staples that go easily with anything, which is important when you don´t have access to your whole wardrobe. I´m planning on going shopping in Japan for anything I might have forgotten to bring (I´m also going to go shopping in Japan period.)

I also have organised the gifts I´m giving to my host families. This was something I was a little nervous about for a while, because these families are going to let me become a part of their family, and I know how important gift giving is in Japanese culture. Now I can say that I´m very happy with what I´m giving. I´ll show you a sneak peak of what I´m giving a little further down.

The lucky seven. I think my feet will be happy that I chose to pack these shoes.

I think I might have packed more socks than I´ll ever use.

My packing made the house look like a mess for days. Thank you to my family that put up with this .

Other achievements I can add to my resume include being able to fit almost all my clothes into half of this suitcase.

We bought the grocery store´s whole supply of milk chocolate to bring as gifts. It had to be done. Norwegians are very proud of our chocolate, "Freia Melkesjokolade" is even dubbed "A Little Piece of Norway".
It is that delicious.

I am also bringing an unusual amount of Norwegian cheese slicers. We Norwegians are also very proud of our "ostehøvel". What do cheese-eaters do without this invention beats me.
I have other gifts, but I have to keep some of the mystery alive, right?

If anyone is interested, here is an extensive list of all the clothing items that I have packed:

3 short sleeved t-shirts

2 long sleeved t-shirts

3 sweaters

2 cardigans

2 pairs of jeans

1 pair of black dress pants

2 pairs of shorts

3 skirts

6 dresses

7 pairs of shoes

2 sets of training clothes

1 pair of sweat clothes 

1 pair of pajamas

4 coats

2 pairs of thermal underwear

2 scarves (one has the ostehøvel on it)

1 set of mittens

1 hat

lots of socks and underwear

By the time I´ve finished this post, it´s way past my bedtime. One more day until I´m off for Japan!