Challenge of the Century: Packing

I am only a couple days away from flying halfway across the world and living in northern Tanzania for the next three and a half months. I am surprisingly calm, but very very excited! I believe I have just mastered the art of packing everything that I need into two checked bags, both under 50 lbs and a backpack. Now I really have no way of knowing if I have everything I am going to find myself needing or if I have way too much of what I don't need (which is more than likely), so here's to hoping I am prepared! I had quite the packing list sent to me by the school complete with clothes, school supplies (including my own printer paper!), books, camping gear, bedding, medicines, toiletries etc. At first I did not think it was possible until I made a new best friend: space bags. Seriously, I would not be making it with all my stuff without these things. I got them for cheap at Marshall's and they don't require use of a vacuum but I fit all of my clothes, pillow, and sheets into them! Also, I would like to give a personal shoutout to Amazon Prime for providing me with just about everything I could possible need with awesome prices (not even kidding).

Picking what clothing to bring was also a huge challenge. In East Africa, the social dress code is much more modest than what we are used to wearing in America. Women especially are expected to have their legs and shoulders/chest covered at all times. Shorts are sometimes acceptable but they must be much longer in length what what we usually see in the states. I went out and purchased a few maxi skirts for when we go out into the local villages and lots of loose t- shirts, both quick dry and regular cotton to double as appropriate tops with the skirts and to wear regularly in the hot African sun doing field work. I left most of my shorts at home and brought with me mostly field pants. I brought a surprisingly decent amount of cold weather clothes as well considering it gets into the 50s at night. I also spent a lot of time finding good quality camping gear such as a sleeping bag, sleeping map, and camp stool that packs super small! I attached a few pictures of what I am bringing with me, so please check them out!