one month to go

In one month, I will be on the plane to Beijing. That scares me a bit, considering I've never been on a plane. I'm really concerned about packing at the moment. I have no idea how to pack for nearly 5 months. And there's a lot of stuff I have to take because I can't get it in China - textbooks, face wash, tampons - random stuff like that will take up a lot of room, I imagine. I don't know what to bring for clothes either. They tell us to bring like 2 pairs of pants and a couple shirts... for 5 months? I don't want to do laundry everyday, especially considering the washing machines are really rough on clothes and there's no dryers. I am a compulsive overpacker and I don't know how I'm going to do this...