SwissAir, here I come!

Two checked bags. Wow, SwissAir has got to be kidding on this one. I am packing up to live in Europe for six months, and SwissAir thinks I can do it with only two checked bags? Funny.\nDisbelief aside, I am forced to comply with the airline restrictions concerning my personal effects. After all, if you go over 70 pounds on any one suitcase, it's another $100 to get it to where you're going. So I am forced to stuff my entire life into two checked bags that weigh less than 70 pounds each.\nThe first bag packed and ready to go is probably a bit superfluous. It's not that my skis are a necessity, but I really, really want to ski while I am there. Besides, you can cram all of your ski gear in with the skis themselves, so I am set. One bag to go.\nClothes and other necessities are a completely different story. What to pack? I will be spending the semester in Copenhagen, Denmark. The weather in the Danish capital makes Seattle look completely dry, and the wind can whip off the North Sea and cut to the bone worse than the breezes I am used to in the Windy City. Oh yes, and the city is so far north that it begins to get dark around 3 p.m. local time. Wet, cold, dark winter -- here I come! \nNot, of course, that I have any first-hand knowledge of the weather patterns of Denmark. The first time I will step foot in the country is when I get off the plane and go to my new school for orientation. And orientation means something more like "repeat kindergarten lessons because everything here is different, and we mean everything."\nThe addresses are in a different format, the phone numbers are a mystery to me, and I don't speak a single word of Danish, unless you count their drinking toast "Skol!" Since Denmark is not a member of the European Monetary Union, they still use their own currency, which has no nice and easy one-to-one relationship to the dollar -- quite unlike the handy-dandy Euro. But I digress.\nThe bulky items are going to be a problem, not to mention the zillions of restrictions the Danes have about bringing just about anything into the country. After carefully reading what is forbidden, I decide on some tame solids I can mix and match. I need to bring my suit for all of our field trips, and I have one dress in case I have an occasion to dress nicely. Those bags that suck out the air from your belongings are the coolest, and have allowed me to pack a few more things in. Besides, if I forget anything, my parents can just ship it to me.\nSo I'm ready. I've got my visa, my tickets, my bags and my sense of adventure. I'm off to a city 4,300 miles from my hometown. I'll be moving into a family's home and living as the Danes do. Maybe I'll even pick up some Danish. I'll be traveling on a shoe-string and visiting my friends whom are flung as far away as Paris, London, Rotterdam, Frankfurt and Florence. The thought is scary but invigorating at the same time. I'm ready. Let the adventure begin.