43 days to go until I leave for St. Petersburg. If I've guessed the right flight (we don't have the tickets in hand yet), it 's 43 days, 18 hours, and 30 minutes. Today I received my pre-orientation study packet, which is basically the Russian alphabet and a few sheets of common phrases, plus a reading practice booklet. I was pretty proud of myself. Back in February I started learning some Russian through CDs in my car during my commute. I only made it through 3 lessons because it was hindering my Spanish class I had, but reading through the packet there were quite a few phrases I recognized and could pronounce. My next step is going to be really learning the alphabet, by sight and sound.

Yesterday I started my packing list. Unless you've traveled with me, and often even then, you don't know about my packing lists. I make them well in advance and they are often insanely detailed. This helps with packing and organization, but it also helps with anxiety. I really can't wait to go, but I love to organize travel and know what my plan is. If I didn't do it last year, we would have ended up lost in every city, missing our planes, trains, buses, and boats, and having nowhere to sleep. But since this is a full out educational study abroad, program, I have no details yet other than where we are living and where we go to school. I don't know our flights, layovers, transportation, I barely know that name of the airline! It's driving me crazy, sooooo I have started my packing list in order to cope....lol. My key two parts of travel anticipation? Itineraries and packing lists.

I'm not going to post the list here. It's not finished, and when it is, it will be long. But basically, it is divided into sections. Flight Purse, Carry-On, and Suitcase. My flight purse is always fairly big - I just got a perfect Sisley one that's massive but simple, and a pretty light blue. My carry-on is usually a nice soft-sided carry bag, and my main suitcase is a very large Samsonite hard case. For this trip, I may switch to a backpack for my carry on, and add a second suitcase. Even for two week trips I usually add a second suitcase or a garment bag.

It looks like flight time over will be 16 hours going, and 18 hours coming back. This means a nine hour flight over, a five hour layover, then another three hour flight. I'm not too excited about this, but I'll prepare for it as best as possible. Plus, I should have 35 or so new friends on the plane with me!