A.K.A: I wish I had known this before.

Whether you're going back for good or deferring for a year, or simply taking long vacation, the cost of paying rent of an international student is a waste of any monetary resources, to the extent of compensating your vacation plan. So you have no choice than: a) subletting your place or b) get rid of your stuff.

If you are a), you have to make sure to have your landlord's consent and assured that, by heaven's grace, the subletee is not a criminal. Now let's talk about b).

Furniture is easier. Many new international students (like vous) are looking for affordable furniture. So as long as the furniture is clean and is not bulky (that's why IKEA is always the better option), sell it for reasonable price and sooner or later, someone will come and grab it.

Now your livinghood is a completely different story. Although luggage is based on piece system for flights to North America, flights to Asia are weight system. If I recall correctly, airlines have 24-23Kgs rules. So you can't fit your whole year into that 24/23kgs. You gotta get rid of your things.

Clothes, for example, can always be donated. You won't get your money back unless they are all branded items. Which even so, it is against all odds for people to pay more than 50 bucks for a wellworn clothes (albeit branded), without tag. Unless maybe they are collector's items? The process will test your patience. You can also consider flea markets. But from what I gather from living abroad, baby, never, ever, ever, spend more than 50 bucks for seasonal fashion. Only the essentials are worth it: jeans and jackets. Maybe one or two good boots and sneakers. Trust me, I learned it the hard way, you'd rather toss your heels and pack light than to pay for excess baggage.

But again, if I were you, I'd donate them all to Salvation Army. No fuss no muss.

Books, though, are different matter altogether. Books are very precious and, yes, very heavy. But here are some tips for textbooks. You can always resell your textbooks on the buyback event on your campus. OR, you can sell it online at barnesandnobles.com, or abebooks.com. Do google and compare the offering price. OR you can sell it on campus bulletin to students. The latter always have better bargain.

Or this is a trick: load all your books in your hand carry. Carry it will all your might. They won't weigh it, but pray they won't dog you out because the limit is two pieces of, if I remember correctly, 7kgs.

If everything fails, you will end up like moi. The cost of shipping 15kgs of my precious books to Indonesia is about 300 CAD. Local post office, on the other hand, cost 120CAD more. Now at this point, I have no other options than to pay that amount! And yes I have books too in my luggage, thank you very much.

So, moral of the story?

Being an international student is about experience. It is not measured by how many items you purchased abroad. It is not a vacation. In fact, you actually pay for getting tortured by exams, papers, social dramas, local food and horrible weather. The items you purchased are irrelevant altogether. So unless they are textbook, or must-haves (like my 7KG 30,000 Years of Art by Phaidon), GO TO PUBLIC LIBRARY. As for clothing? A word of advice: two weeks WITHOUT Zara, H&M and Topshop won't kill you. On the contrary, you might actually save up for a trip down to Cancun.

Now that sounds much better than paying for shipping, doesn't it?

PS: It's always easier said than done. Sale is everywhere, btw. In fact, I'm seriously considering to buy the DiscoBra. ...