Getting My Life Together Before Going Back to Oxford for My Second Year

I am finally going back to Oxford for my second year in like three weeks and I am so excited that I am already starting to pack. So I basically laid out all my sweaters because I'm not going to need them. Here in Texas it is about 100 degrees every day. That's like in the 40s Celsius for the Europeans. So I have all my sweaters that I am going through and am trying to pack, but I've run into an issue. I have a slight obsession with navy, especially when it comes to navy sweaters. I have like seven of them or something, so I'm trying to figure out how many of them I can bring while still being realistic about like do I really want to be wearing only navy sweaters because I will be wearing a sweater every single day there. This is my suitcase that I bought last fall. I have a video of me shopping and buying stuff so I will link it below, but I got this and I got a smaller one that's in here and I love these. They've been great for traveling. So I'm going to just basically pile up everything I want to take into the bag so at least it's out of the way. I love this orange crew neck from Sunspell for fall, so that for sure is coming. I'm bringing three dresses for this term, two of them are actually like basically the same color, but this one is more form-fitting, a long gown. And this one I love, it's from Ivy City and it's like more layered and ruffly. And then I have this black silky one that I actually, I took last middlemas, but I think I only wore it like once or twice. Two skirts, very British, this one is from Cath Kidston, swole one, and then I have this one from Hobbs, it's got the plaid on it. Velvet jacket to wear over the dresses and formal wear. Genuinely, I have no idea how I'm going to narrow this down. I also have a few other colors in case I want variety, and I left a few sweaters in England, so I definitely don't need this many. This year there are some extra complications, well, sort of one thing that makes it easier is that half of my stuff is over at Oxford, well not half, I have like my bedding, all of that taken care of and it's over there in storage. But then I also am not going directly to Oxford this time, so I have to pack a little bit lighter, and last time when I came home after my first school year, I came home with two checked bags and my carry-on. So this time I'm going to have to do one checked bag and one carry-on. So I need to bring less, while still also, I have a kitchen this year, so I also have to bring kitchen supplies. So I don't know how I'm going to do this. Something moving abroad has taught me is what really matters and what I really use, and that I don't need as much stuff as I currently have. As much as I love like having the ability to pull from different outfits and from like different crafty activities, like supplies that I might need at home that I don't have at Oxford, I definitely just have a lot of stuff that I don't need. So I've been going through my clothes and like all my storage, my closets, and like my bathroom cabinets and all of that. So I have some clothes that I am listing on eBay, just mostly stuff that doesn't relate to it anymore, and I also have been going through my toiletries and whatnot. I have a lot of like costume makeup that I don't know when I'm ever going to use it again because I don't really dress up for Halloween anymore. And then I just have like some random like skincare tools and whatnot that I'm not going to use. Another thing I absolutely love are beauty advent calendars, but what I've realized is a lot of them that have fragrances, I don't actually like the fragrance, or like I got this liquid eyeshadow that I've never opened, so it's brand new, so I could gift it to someone that I got from an advent calendar, and like I'm never going to use it. Even though the value is great for advent calendars, because you get so many more products, there are just sometimes things that I like would never have picked out and don't really have a way to use. So I'm going to try to figure out what to do with these for now. Like this, I sprayed it like a few times just to like smell it to remind myself so it's like half gone now, but I don't like it so I don't know what to do with it. I have five iterations of old white shoes that like are not in great shape and that I do not want anymore, so I looked it up and supposedly the Nike stores will take them and do something with them, like recycle them. I don't know that anyone really wants to wear these, so I'm going to put them in a bag and get rid of them, and hopefully that'll free up some closet space. These are my two most recent pairs. I took these to Oxford, and you can kind of see the heels are pretty worn out. These were my everyday shoe there, and these are still good. These are my Victorias, which I love because they say my name. They're a little dirty, so I'm going to clean them, but these will be my current white shoe. My running shoes are also pretty worn out, but I think I'm actually going to keep these. I just got a new pair of hokas, and one of these can turn into like my rowing machine shoe or I'll figure out something. I'm like sad to see them go. I know this looks like a lot of clothes, and it is, but some of these are from years ago, and a lot of these are from people who have given me their old clothes and said, here, pick out your favorites, and if you don't want them, just donate them or sell them or get rid of them. So that is what I'm going to do. I'm going to list everything on eBay if it isn't already there. Maybe Poshmark or Depop, I'll need to see which of those I still have set up. And I'm going to fold them in a bag and put them away so that I don't have to have them in my space. I'm actually thinking some of this might just have to go to the thrift store, or I wish the consignment shops just gave you the money up front, one of those places, because there's just far too much, and it takes quite a while to have it sit on eBay to sell, and I would really like them gone faster than that, so I might put together just a thing of some of the ones that I'm happy to just get rid of immediately. This is the easiest way to get pictures if you're trying to list something online. Just hang it up, that looks really wrinkly so I'll have to fix that, but hang it up on your curtain, and then the curtain is like a nice backdrop. Welcome to my hallway closet. I have like this awkward hallway, and it has this closet, and it's kind of where I store any of my spare school supplies, bedding, books, everything here, so I'm going to try to also figure out what I can get rid of from here just to reduce the amount of space, because I rarely use the stuff in here. I do have camera gear and the bedding that I use, and obviously books and notebooks, but then there's just a lot of other eclectic stuff. I have my homemade mom that I made for my sophomore year homecoming, which is very cute, but like I'm never going to use that again. So just, I have some jewelry, I actually made this jewelry, but I feel like it's not really my style. Like I might have a time where I would wear it, but it would be very rarely, and so I think someone else could like it more than me, so I'm going to try to list all this jewelry that I have and get that put away somewhere else. I also have random stuff from subscription boxes, which I like, they're really fun, and then you realize that like, I don't need half of the stuff in here, and I don't know what I'm going to do with it. Here are some of the things I've got going, just some jewelry, I don't wear gold, I think this is super cute, it's all these London things, and I have had this for like 10 years, but I just am not a gold person, as we can tell. Yeah, and then some other random things, and this bag, once again, subscription box, I think it's cute, I don't know when I would use it, so we're going to list it. At one point I was really into making these round loom hats, because they're super easy, and I would like make pom-poms to put on them, and so I made a ton, this isn't even all of them, and then I realized that nobody actually wanted to wear them. So, I mean, this one is actually a nice wool, that one's cool, but a lot of these just kind of sit here, and don't get worn, which is unfortunate, but I think it might be time to let these go, although I do have some extra wool, and like, that is actual wool, um, so I don't know what I'm going to do with that, but I also made like, this little owl once upon a time, which I thought was cute. Good morning, I am the only one home right now, well, it's actually, it's 11. I've been doing very productive stuff though, I've been doing work and emails, and whatnot, so I am very hungry, so I'm going to make some breakfast. Although I think it's a bit early to start festivities, I am going to make some pumpkin pancakes, because I'm not sure if they have canned pumpkin in the UK, so I'm going to make a third of the recipe of them, and enjoy it for myself. I used einkorn flour, which is less refined, it has more nutrients, it's an ancient grain, so I put it in my pancakes. I've actually found it's quite difficult to make like, a fluffy, light, um, sourdough with it, but pancakes, it's been really good, and it has kind of a nutty flavor, so I feel like that works pretty well with the pumpkin. Um, I might put some chocolate chips in my pancakes, and I'm excited to try it. I am going to eat this and draft some emails for one of the internships I'm working on, and then I should probably actually get ready for the day, given that it's now 11.15. I in fact did not get ready, I spent four hours planning a trip I'm going on for a weekend, helping my mom, having lunch, and doing computer work for rowing to set up, because I'm a vice captain so I have to plan all the novice stuff, and get some like, socials work done, which I enjoy all these things I do, I really, really enjoy them, but a lot of it just means I'm on my computer 24-7, which isn't like, the best for me, like mentally, for my eyes, for my headaches, or any of that, so I'm going to go out, um, to the mall, not that that's really productive either, but I have a, something I have to pick up, and then I'm going to get my brother from school. Given that the day is already like, well over half over, I don't know that it's really worth getting fully ready and like, doing my whole morning skincare routine, given that it's not the morning. So I'm just gonna spray my face, and pop on some perfume and jewelry, and then head out. I was looking back at old pictures and I realized I've had the exact same like, jewelry ring set up for well over a year, I think like almost two years now, um, except that I've added this ring that I realized fits on my pinky, I got this my first time I went to Bali, and it has gotten too small. A lot of my jewelry that I've gotten in Bali though, like in more recent trips, um, has actually been too big, because my hands swell up in the heat, and so I would try them on when my hands were, you know, a lot, um, my fingers were a lot wider, but this one I was very young when I got it, so now it fits as a pinky ring. I just got off a Q&A call with the new first years, and as international rep, I kind of gave some information about what to know, um, but now I am going to work on planning some of my events for the term, and work on, I have to book food for a trip I'm going on with my friends that I'm very excited for, and I kind of put myself in charge of the catering. So I'm kind of excited about that, because then I get to decide what we're eating, and I'm going to make it like food that everyone likes. But for my events this term, some of my ideas are like a sushi and origami night, um, maybe like a Thanksgiving friendsgiving, um, maybe a dance class, or hot chocolate trips, maybe a movie night, so I have some rough ideas. I have also seen like a scavenger hunt app that I might set up, because that would be more interactive, and I feel like it's easier to get to know people when you're actually doing something, so if they got like paired up into groups, you could do that. So I'm going to work on that, I'm just going to make a rough plan, because I think I'm only going to do like an event every other week, and there's only eight weeks to term, so that's four events, which is not much, and then that means over the year there's and then maybe add in a few more, so I get to like 16 events, um, which is not much. So that is the good news, and then as far as food goes for the trip, I've planned some of the meals. So here are some meals that I found that were fairly affordable, and easy to, well, we'll see how easy they are to make in bulk. I have chicken teriyaki, so rice, chicken, teriyaki sauce, and carrots, I think that should be enough to make a meal, and then we have a pasta thing my friend told me about red pesto, which I never heard of before, but it's like sun-dried tomatoes, and so he's going to make that with chorizo and chicken pasta, and then using that pasta, I'm also going to have us make like a, um, make some pork sausage and then bolognese sauce, so that's the plan. After months of 100 degree heat, it is finally raining, so hopefully we can get some real fall festivities going. Hello, I just got back from church, I taught a lesson, which was fun, to the women, um, and now I am basically going to do a big reset. I leave for Oxford in a week and a half, and I'm going just somewhere local for a weekend, so I'm going to do a bit of a Sunday reset right now, just to begin my preparation process, so first thing, I am going to change. I'm currently wearing this dress and cowboy boots, which is very cute, but it's not practical. Step one, we're going to start with the closet, so that I can move anything that's out there into here. I got some things from Live Healthily, it's like a non-toxic health and wellness site where they sell a bunch of different things, they also have their own product. I got this because I'm a very stressed person, and my doctor said that I need more sodium, which will help with my low blood pressure, so excited to try this, and then I got this multivitamin, even though it's for kids, but it tastes really good, and it doesn't have any sweeteners at all, actually, like no artificial ones and no stevia or monk fruit or anything. It kind of just tastes like freeze-dried raspberries, which is good. I'm excited to make these part of my routine in Oxford. As far as food and supplements go for my packing, I'm bringing two bags of this Paleo Valley protein powder, tastes really good, protein pancake mix for easy breakfasts, and hot chocolate powder for cozy nights in. I'm going to pick out some jewelry, I like filling up this case, and then this one. A lot of my jewelry is from Jet Set Candy, because I have a few of their chains and bracelets, and then I can just kind of swap it out with different little charms to be on them. Here are some of the chains that I have, this is like a bracelet, this can be a wraparound bracelet, or a necklace, and then necklace, and just these don't connect, but what I love about the Jet Set Candy is that they have these cute little airplanes everywhere, and they are kind of like themed by places, so this is Copenhagen and Stockholm, that was my graduation trip, Kenya and Zimbabwe, a humanitarian trip I went on, and all of those four are Hawaii. So I have a few options, it's a passport, and these are both UK and London, so I might bring those. I kind of rotate what I bring each term, I love this crab, it's super cute, but I'm not sure what I want yet. I'm also going to bring these little Pura Vida bracelet sets for Christmas and Halloween. The other thing that is really hard for me to pick is watches, this one is like a Queen Elizabeth one that changes the dress color, and this is like a London specific one, they're all swatches, all these ones, and they're really fun, and I wish I could bring a lot of them to have with different outfits, but I feel like it's a bit overkill. I care a lot more about how I dress and accessorize at Oxford than I do at home, which is kind of unfortunate for me, given that most of my stuff is here at home, so I'm going to try to pick a few, I always have just like a staple one that works with everything that's more formal, but then I'll maybe bring two of these other ones, I'll also bring my Apple watch because workouts, so that's a lot of watches. I'm going to end this video now because it is now travel day, so stay tuned for all the Oxford content. Bye!