How do you pack to move to another country?  How do you know what to bring?  I knew that since I was moving to Europe, I would realistically be able to FIND anything that I didn’t bring from home.  This is no 3rd world country, by any means.  But there are a number of things that would have made my first days/ month here easier and more convenient.  These are the things I should have packed for my first year as an Auxiliar de Conversación in Madrid.

• Peanut butter.  This list is in no order but peanut butter tops the list, for sure.  They don’t have peanut butter in Peru or in Costa Rica or in Cuba.  What is it with these places?!  I asked a Spaniard and he didn’t really know what I was talking about and then eventually said they don’t have that here.  I would have brought 3 jars, just to last me through December.  Or…this month
• Rubber bands. something so simple, yet so useful.  I could use them to close up bags of food.
• Plastic ziplock bags, large and small– would have been nice to be able to pack snacks, as well as keep my food fresh
• A first-aid/ health kit– ugh this would have been extremely helpful.  I’m not talking like wrap bandages.  I mean DayQuil, NiteQuil, band-aids, Neosporin, headache meds, Tums, cough spray, cough drops.  Things that are useful!
• More socks– I left Philadelphia when it was hot, hot, hot.  And now I am in Spain and it’s semi-chilly.  I wore sandals all summer long and now that it’s a bit colder, I realize I brought like…two pairs of socks.
• A couple envelopes– never know when you’ll need to send a letter and I have literally no clue where there is a post office.
• A few plastic utensils– living out of a hotel means scrounging for utensils to eat with
• A shopping tote– they charge for plastic bags here!  And also, I’ll be walking to get many of my groceries so I need something reliable
• A “tool kit”– scissors, push pins, safety pins, paperclips, a mini stapler, tape, post its, pens
• My Fitbit!  I stopped using it for most of the summer, but now that I walk miles each day, I would love to be able to track my steps!
• A flash drive- Of course you can buy them, but the first few days here involve gathering documents and printing things and it’s just so much easier if you already have on.  I just bought one for 8E, which isn’t terrible.

There are so many more that I think of every day, but these are the ones that keep coming to mind for things I should have packed.  And obviously, this is Europe.  I can find all of these things are more in the stores around here, but it would have just made life easier if I had already had them with me.