Listomania

I've been making a lot of lists lately. I have a list of the little things I need to remember buy. I have a short list of activities I'd like to do with my family before I leave. The most complex list of all is the only one I haven't actually written down. It is a mental list of all the big thoughts and subtle feelings I've had since graduation. I don't want to be overwhelmed by all the changes and keeping lists has helped so far.

The two main purposes behind all these lists are (1) to remember, and (2) to stay organized so I can stay on top of what must be done. The first reason is the most influential. Lately, my conscious has been flooded with memories. I hear a song that reminds me of a roadtrip my family took over five years ago. I find a bus ticket stub valid for a ride to Fiesole. I fall into a five hour long Facebook chat with an old friend where all we do is share memories from our silly teenage years. The resurfacing of these memories and my current obsession with remembering could all be part of coming home or having graduated. It could be my mind's way of sorting through everything.

So, to tell you about the past few days as regards my upcoming departure I will use these tricks of my memory. But we must start in the present moment. Below is a picture of where I am sitting right now. I've labeled certain features and although it looks like an ordinary scene, it really isn't. It is full of meaning and memories.



(1) This little basket is a fixture of my desktop. The basket was from a bath soap set my aunt gave me for Christmas one year the whole family was all together for the holidays. My parents, brothers, and I have always lived in a different state than the rest of the family you see. So, Christmases together are always remembered. Now, the basket holds little scraps of papers, bookmarks, and my passport. I like having my passport sitting where I can see it. My first time out of the country was for a January term in Bangalore, India. When I went to a post office in Wichita to get my picture taken the family in line before me was from India. I still remember how the little boy squirmed when his dad tried to hold him still for the photo. He was wearing an orange and white striped polo shirt.

(2) I checked out this stack of books from the Cobb Country Library this afternoon after spending a few hours at the pool.
a.Let's Go Europe 2009 While studying in Italy last spring I used this book frequently. One of the previous students had left it in our apartment. I used it to plan most portions of my excursions outside of Italy: London, Bath, Cork, and Paris. Since it is so large I simply copied down the information I needed into a notebook. The only time I ever took the book out of the apartment was for a long afternoon at one of my favorite spots in Florence. I still have that notebook and will probably use it again, but I want to visit cities I did not get to go last year. Hopefully, over the next few day's I'll be able to take down good notes from this book again.
b. Fodor's Essential Europe: The Best of 16 Exceptional Countries
c. Let's Go France 2009 The place I want to visit most again is France. I only spent three days in Paris last spring. I was on my own, which was the best part, but I did not get to see even half of what I wanted, intended, or planned. I know I'll be writing more about this particular adventure and my future plans to pick up where I left off so I'm going to stop myself from sharing my memories of Paris.
d. Fodor's Paris 2009

(3) This is the 55-250mm zoom lense that came with my darling Canon Rebel T1i, which my parents bought it for me as a graduation present. I have yet to familiarize myself with it, even though I've taken some test shots here and there. But expect to see (and probably read more) about it because I will be using it non-stop.

(4) This is one of the said lists. The writing is very small because I'm trying to keep it all on the same notecard. When I spoke to my host parents on Sunday (more on this conversation in a later post) I scribbled notes on the back. The pen I used has purple ink, which instantly reminded me of a certain morning in Florence. We were standing outside Santa Croce listening to the art history professor's lecture on the exterior. It began to rain and the few drops my open notebook managed to catch made the black ink run in pools of deep violet. When I went back to decipher my notes later they were illegible but the color was beautiful.

(5) These are the first official items I purchased for my time in the Netherlands.
a. Moleskine European City Notebook: Amsterdam As soon as my au pair position was for certain I began looking for items to purchase in order to prepare myself and/or be of use while I am there. Moleskine is my notebook of choice and while looking for one to record my adventures I found this. It is a regular Moleskine but it is equipped with city maps and organized tabs for attractions and favorite places for the traveller to fill in according to their tastes.
b. Moleskine Pocket Ruled Notebook When I said that Moleskine is my notebook of choice I actually meant that I'm a Moleskine lover. I bought my first set of Moleskines before I left for Italy. This time I've shrunken down to the pocket version of what I used for my previous travels.
c. Lonely Planet Guide: The Netherlands This was the only travel book Barnes & Noble had on the Netherlands, which is disappointing. Especially for someone like me because I love variety. Since there were no other options I felt pressured to buy it. And then I realized that I still need to see what Borders has to offer. There were, however, plenty of books about Amsterdam which doesn't do me much good. I don't think I should buy a book on Amsterdam because I have the city notebook mentioned above, and my host parents are already very familiar with Amsterdam. I'd much rather depend on them for information than a guide book, but we shall see if I change my mind about that.

(6) Before I started writing this blog entry I spent a good amount of time at apple.com looking at the new iPhone. Of the many things I find so great about it the best one is that it has video calls. It is the first cell phone ever to have that feature. To me, email and Facebook are not good enough for keeping in touch with my friends and family. So I used Skype while I was in Italy. It is free to use on computers but there is also a deal where you can buy Skype Credit on cell phones. Still, it doesn't beat the video call on the new iPhone. But the world isn't perfect. I'm still exploring my options in terms of how to call people in the States from a cell phone in the Netherlands. In fact, my mom and I are going to Verizon this afternoon to see what can be sorted out with our contract. I still plan on using Skype as my main source of face-time but one should always have a back up.

Those are all the labels explained in brief. But the best part of this scene is that before I went to Italy I took the same picture of my desk.


Notice the very basket with my passport, a stack of library books, and a stack of books from Barnes & Noble. It is funny sometimes how things tend to come full circle.


There. Now you can see how all these memories of mine are connected in their own strange way. Or in my mind, at least. I'm going to keep making lists and I'm going to keep remembering. In less than a week, after I step onto that plane destined for Amsterdam, I'll have new memories to share with you. I hope you're ready.