So, I'm going to Spain. In 74 days I will be boarding a plane and flying over the Atlantic Ocean to the most beautiful place in the world. I wanted to find a way to communicate with all my friends and family about my experiences while there and the struggles and eye-opening moments and the tears and the smiles. I want to share with everyone what it's like to be in Europe for the first time and what it's like in my shoes while there. This is just a bit of an introduction, so I'll try to update as I can.
I really wanted to start this blog before I left so I would be able to remember back to what my initial fears and worries were before leaving the U.S. as well as to serve as a way to compare myself now to who I will become!

So, as a bit of background, I'm going to be travelling to Sevilla, Spain. This is a growing city in the southern part of the country near Portugal. It is a glittering city that offers the best of both worlds; a growing and thriving metropolis, as well as the home of some of the oldest, biggest, and most interesting places from Spanish/European history.

It's funny, really how I decided on where I wanted to go abroad, so that's the story I'll tell:

   I was in Nicaragua on the Psychology study abroad trip this past summer. I don't want to make this about that trip, but being there changed my entire life. It took what I knew to be true and how I lived my life and turned it completely upside down. I look at the world differently, i see people in a new light. I have an appreciation for aspects of my life I had always taken for granted. Coming back from that experience, was like (I'm assuming) coming down from the highest high. It was my heroin. Being back in the U.S. after such a life-shaking experience left me frustrated and confused and I felt unable to connect with my life. Despite the negativity and the darkness I felt, the only light that was shed on me was the possibility of traveling again. I had this itch, this sick desire to see more. I wanted that high again, but I wanted it so badly.
   After the International Center at GVSU sent out it's regular post-travels, welcome back!, and trip surveys and questionnaires, I got this small glimmer that I might be able to get that opportunity I so craved and longed for. The day I got the email about grants available to curb the cost, I walked all the way to that side of campus and told the student advisor to open any travel book to any page and tell me how to go there. So that's literally what I did. I thumbed through the most recent Study Abroad program catalog and I found Spain.
   Once I found the country, I did a little more careful planning as far as budgeting and being realistic goes. When I discovered Sevilla, then I had to decide on one of the three universities. That's when I entered them on google maps and did a bit of a virtual tour. I knew I would just know when it felt right. And that's exactly why I finally chose la Universidad de Sevilla. It is this old (built in 1555) castle of a school right in the middle of this busy city. It fit me so well. I knew that's where I was going to go.

So there you have it. The type-A personality who just chose the first page that fell open. The person who made lists and who alphabetizes everything, just picking up and going. That's it. There was no big plan. There was no one I checked with or got permission from. I'm just doing it. I'm going to Spain.