I hate moving

Most of my stuff is packed up now. Some small things to go, also have to disassemble my bed, and lots of cleaning up... it's 1 am, and the packers are coming in 7 hours.



31 hours until I get on the train that takes me to the airport.

I hate moving. It always makes me feel kind of lonely. And nostalgic... all those little things that will now be gone, and gone for good. And also, a little overwhelmed.

My oh my, I'm such a pussy.

T minus 83 hours

I'm starting to get just a little nervous now. I never stepped on a plane, or helicopter, or balloon, or anything like it before. I have rented a hostel for the first week in Singapore, but after that? Here's hoping that it won't be too hard to find an affordable apartment. Moving to the other end of the planet without any clue where I'll live past the first week? Scary thought. Scarier even than to figure out how to get all of my stuff packed up in cardboard boxes.
Here in Göttingen, I live above a pub. To get to my rathole apartment, one has to climb a very narrow spiral staircase... most of my furniture fits through there, but a sofa, an armchair and my fridge don't. So how did we get them in here in the first place? Easy, just tied them up with ropes and shoved them out of the window of the café on the first floor, dragged them up to the second floor and pulled them in through the window. I hope that getting them down again will be easier...

I also bought a neoprene shuttle bag for my notebook, only to realize that I'd probably need another one to take all my peripheral gear - mouse, external harddrive, digicam, power units... Cramming them into that bag too kinda defeats the purpose, I think. I also think I really have to start packing.

Tomorrow...

T minus 134 hours

Here we go, blog is up. I'm starting to get all excited - next Tuesday I will get on a plane from Frankfurt to Singapore, which is going to be my home for the next 4.5 months. I'm doing an exchange semester at the National University of Singapore, starting August 6th. Here in Göttingen, Germany, I study Social Anthropology and Comparative Religion Sciences at the Georg August Universität Göttingen. After my exchange semester in Singapore, I plan to do 2.5 months of volunteer work in Japan. I'm 24, and about to leave Europe for the first time in my life.

But first, lots of tedious paperwork. Argh, bureaucracy! The Uni here wants proof of me studying down there so I can be granted a lower semester fee, even though this exchange is based on a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Social Anthropology here and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in Singapore; and there's some legal trouble with my former landlord, who has been owing me and my former roommate money for over a year now... but thankfully, most other stuff (exams, anyone?) has already been sorted out, so apart from that stuff and getting all my crap moved from this apartment to some storage somewhere for the next 7 months, all that's left for me to do is - farewell parties!