I have never moved from one country to another before, so I am clearly not an expert on the topic. The furthest I have moved was literally to University an hour away... so I mean this is a whole new experience. But as I go along, preparing myself for the move (less than 2 weeks to go!!!!), I have come up with a few good tips on what to do as you prepare to move. I know it's not really the most common thing to look up tips for, but if you ever do find yourself moving from one country to another, I hope this can help.

1. Use up any health care/benefits you have.
If you are lucky enough to live in Canada, use up as much free health care as you possibly can. You really don't want to get to a different country without free health care and have to make a simple appointment that you could've had for free. Also if you have benefits of any sort, use them!! In the last few weeks I have had my wisdom teeth removed, I got new glasses and I've filled basically every prescription that I have ever had prescribed to me. And the government covered all of it. Bless the Canadian government.

2. Stock up on your favourite products.
It is very likely that the country you are moving to will not have the same products that you love in your home country, or they will just be more expensive where you're moving to. I know for a fact that drug store make up is like double the price in Australia, which means I am going to go on a shopping spree at Shoppers before I go. That brings me to number 3..

3. Redeem all of your rewards points.
If you have rewards points with any stores that don't exist in the country that you're moving to, redeem them!! As I said before, I am going to go on a shopping spree at Shoppers, and I am going to use all of my Optimum points to do it. Don't waste free money!

4. Plan get togethers with your friends and family.
As much as I said that I would take the time to see every single one of my friends and family members before leaving, I really have not had the time. So, I decided to plan get togethers with all of them at once so that I won't miss saying goodbye to anyone, and I don't have to panic over not having enough time. Leaving my friends and family is the hardest thing about this transition in my life, and I want to make sure that I get the chance to see every one of them before I go.

5. Renew all important government documents.
I have been at more government offices in the last two months than I have in my whole life. I have had to renew my driver's license, health card, and passport. It is so important to make sure you get all of these things renewed because you really don't want them to expire while you're in a different country. Also, it makes it easier for you to get new documents in the country that you're moving to. Do research as well to find out what documents you qualify for in the new country. Australia is awesome and will let me get my full driver's license automatically because I have my full Canadian license.

6. Work and save as much as you can.
I have no idea where or when I am going to work when I get to Australia, so I have been working as much as possible to save as much as possible for when I get there. This is the main reason that I haven't had the time to see my friends and family as much as I would like, but it is really important to have money so that I can survive when I get to Australia.

7. Explore your city.
My mom and I have been going on a bunch of little day trips to different parts of Toronto in the last few weeks. I have lived just outside of the city my entire life, but there is so much of it that I haven't seen. It is so awesome to explore your own city as a tourist. When you live somewhere, you don't see as much of it as someone who has come to visit it. I have learned a lot about Toronto and have seen parts of it that I had never seen before.

8. Pack ahead of time.
Okay.. this is something that I haven't even started yet, and this is why I am putting it on the list. People have been asking me for the last two months if I've started packing yet, which I always laughed at and thought, "I have so much time what are you talking about." Well, time has come and gone, and I am leaving in 2 weeks and have not even thought about how/what I am going to pack. So, as a person who is currently freaking out about how/what I'm going to pack... get started early and you will be cool, calm, and collected in your last weeks at home.

This can be a really stressful time. I am currently feeling every single emotion as the days creep by and my departure date gets closer and closer. I know that at the bottom of my heart this is 100% what I want to do, but obviously I am starting to feel apprehensive and sad about leaving the country I have lived in my whole life. I have been reassured that it is so normal to feel like this. I just need to remind myself that yes, I am going to be homesick, I am going to be sad, but this is just a new chapter of my life and I just have to take it on day by day. I just have to remember how so incredibly excited and happy I am, and how proud of myself that I am that I'm actually doing this. Less than two weeks to go!!! I really can't believe it.