Trinket packing.

Ten days from now, I will be sat in a new flat in Paris, preparing to begin as an exchange fine art student at ENSBA. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about that- I think for somebody terrified of taking risks it's a big deal, and it's proved to be pretty stressful getting to this point. I can't say for sure, but I imagine that once I'm there I'll probably dive nude into the Seine with glee. But... until then, I think I'm just going to keep dreading things and imagining worst case scenarios. Which is just fabulous for those around me who are having to deal with the wobbly little pile of nerve-blancmange I am at present. A pile of blancmange that keeps bleating "I'm going to Paris". "I'm so nervous about going to Paris". "Oh, you're just going to the toilet? Well I'm going to Paris". "Oh you're from France? You'll never guess where I'm going" "Paris" "Paris" "Paris". It makes me want to shove a souvenir Eiffel tower up my nose and out the back of my head.

I've started doing things that are vaguely productive- I've begun to pack my cases, which is turning out to be like playing Tetris with my entire life. It's hard sorting what I actually need from the china cats, platform shoes and bits of tinsel that pollute my existence. Luckily, friends have come to the rescue offering mountains of helpful tips, from what essential condiments to take with me (Marmite) to how to fold my clothes to save the most space (roll 'em up). I'm almost starting to look forward to the creation of a "capsule wardrobe" (a term that always fills a hoarder with dread...). Almost.

I decided that my second productive thing to do would be to start writing this- I'm hoping it might be a good distraction when I realise just before I climb into bed each night that I am definitely on my own in another country and there is no God/Sainsburys. This is an incredibly boring blog entry to start something new with, but I thought it was as good a point as any to try and begin. At the very least, the whole being-in-France thing I've been battering everybody around the face with should be vaguely more interesting than my usual "Um today I looked out the window and then I changed my underpants and then had a ham sandwich". For the first time in my life, I'm going to attempt to stick to keeping a blog and not delete it out of shame and awkwardness after a week.

Hahaha...