Packing for a Semester Abroad - Florence, Italy

Trying to fit your life into just a couple of suitcases for four months sounds daunting, but I promise with some planning and a few key purchases it can be simple!

I was able to pack all of my items in 1 carry on bookbag, 1 carry on rolling suitcase, and 1 regular bookbag I use for school. Here is all the items I brought:

The items listed below are the reasons I was able to pack so light and key purchases I'm really glad I made:

Space Saver Bags

• These bags saved me a ton of space and allowed me to fit all the above clothing into 2 carry ons and a small book bag. They are easy to compress and reusable!

Kelty Redwing Bookbag

• This was so key to packing easily. Being able to carry almost all my stuff on my back and only having to pull one small carry on was so nice. With my flight I had one free checked bag so even though I technically had two carry ons, I checked my rolling bag so I wouldn’t have to deal with pulling it around. Now I only had one large bookbag and one small bookbag to deal with in the airport.

• Also a great buy if you’re into hiking or plan to take weekend trips.

• This one is expensive so I think any large backpack would work.

Dr. Scholl's Women's Time Off Sneaker

• While they’re not the cutest shoes, I think they are at least on par with most and SO comfy. Walked 15,000+ steps most days and my feet were not bothering me one bit.

Bagail Packing Cubes

• Really nice for organization and a good range of sizes. I was also able to fit all of them in the space saver bags except the largest one.

• I also use the largest one as a makeshift dirty clothes hamper in between washes!

Even with the items above the main thing that helped me save space was choosing what to leave behind:

“Just in case clothes”

• It’s so easy to come up with a reason why you might need a certain article of clothing. These are the pieces you won’t end up using frequently and take up space. If you really do end up needing something, you can always purchase it wherever you go.

Graphic tees

• I am typically a t-shirt person, however graphic tees aren’t a common thing to wear in Europe, it’s better to bring neutral clothes that you can easily layer when it gets chilly.

Sweatpants and leggings

• I brought one pair of each just for lounging around the house/working out, but these items are not common to wear around Florence or most of Europe.

Full size toiletries

• Since I’m going to be in Florence for four months I skipped the task of packing/carrying full size items and instead brought travel bottles for my toiletries.

• After I had settled in the city for a few days I bought some at a small supermarket for about 15 euros total and now I have travel sized toiletries for weekend trips!

Another big tip I have is to start packing early. I laid out all my items I was planning to bring 2-3 days before I left. This way I was able to slowly take away items I likely wasn't going to wear and add items in I may have forgotten when I initially began packing.

Many people in my program brought along very large rolling suitcases, this made it difficult for them to navigate to their apartment and also took up space in their rooms. If you can manage, I absolutely recommend trying to fit most of your items into small suitcases/backpacks that will serve multiple purposes! I was also able to store both of my bookbags and packing cubes in my rolling carryon when I unpacked which saved me a lot of space in my room.