Cleaning House

I spent most of the day packing my belongings and organizing the house. My four housemates and I all have to be out by June 1, but I'm leaving shortly after graduation. There are only a few things I have left to take care of. This house look so strange now. There are no banners or posters on the walls. There's nothing on the shelves or countertops. Yes, it's sad, but in a way, it's also very relaxing. Everything I own has either been thrown out or packed into one of a small handful of boxes. I'm now living almost entirely out ofa large backpack. I feel... streamlined.

I'm going to spend most of the summer living out of this backpack. In a few weeks, I'm heading to Europe with two friends for over a month. We have our tickets there and our tickets home and no obligations in between. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to this trip.

I've only been to Europe once and that was on a very structured tour. This will be much more relaxed. We're only bringing what we can fit into our packs, and we can't fit much. We're not bringing anything valuable - a changes of clothes, a toothbrush, and a pair of shoes. Nothing to worry about. Nothing to weigh us down, physically or mentally. We're not even bringing cameras; instead, we'll be buying disposables and mailing them off at various points during the trip.

Where will we sleep? What will we eat? Where will we go? What will we see? I don't even know yet. And I suppose that's the beauty of this whole thing.