Saturday, December 21, 2013

Adjustments

I move in about two months.  Dates haven’t been set in stone yet, and—because I know you’re all wondering—yes, I’m starting to freak out a little bit.  So to quell the lingering anxiety, I’m trying my best to get prepared now.  I went through my closet a few months ago and gave away 75 articles of clothing (which, by the way, I had moved from College Station to San Antonio to “Philadelphia” to Houston before deeming them unnecessary).  Plus, I have significantly cut down on excess spending on clothes for two reasons:  Paris fashion and limited suitcase capacity.  Granted I’ve made some purchases here and there but ONLY on items that will keep me looking as chic as the quintessential Parisienne.  I still have no earthly idea how I’m going to pack for six months abroad in two suitcases.  Challenge…accepted, if for no other reason than not having a choice.

In preparation for the big switch to the metric system, my phone now tells me the weather in Celsius.  You would think that being an engineer by training I would be better at the conversion, but such is not the case.  I have mini panic attacks every time I check the weather before leaving my apartment when my phone reads “currently 4 degrees, high of 7.”  WHAT?!  Oh, right, Celsius.  So somewhere in the 40s.  Whew.  Something tells me it is going to take a while to get used to the temperature conversion.  At least the mile to kilometer conversion is much more straightforward.

Lucky for me, I work with Paris often enough to have the time difference down.  Thank goodness.  I’ll worry about being confused by the Daylight Savings mechanics whenever that happens.  And, BONUS!  I worked for the ROTC program in college so 24-hour time is a breeze.  Good thing Europeans are famously punctual so all this knowledge will go to good use.