Aspirations

So many pictures, so much ExCiTeMeNt!!!

With just over two weeks remaining until the twelve-hour flight, I sit in amazement at the fact that I am actually going! Having never traveled outside the United States (except Jamaica and the Caribbean), I employ only ideas and aspirations of the local culture and what to expect. Everyone I have spoken to has only good things to say about Spanish culture, cuisine, and customs. I anticipate Spanish culture to be very different from American, Spanish food to be extremely satisfying and appetizing, and Spanish architecture to make a statement exclusively found in this unique country. I can't wait to get away from work and embark on this exhilarating rite of passage!

20 days and counting! It feels like this trip has come about a lot faster than I would have imagined. I am really excited and waiting with much anticipation to go on this trip but I am also just a little bit nervous for some odd reason. I have never been to Europe so I am definitely looking forward to being able to see how people live there. This should be a great experience for me and everyone one else that plans to go and hopefully we will all learn a great deal about European culture and especially Spanish culture.
I can't wait to try some of the dishes that they offer in Spain considering I have heard nothing but good things about them. I am also looking forward to being able to take a siesta everday. This should be a great trip and I hope that we will have a wonderful time learning about a culture different from our own and immersing ourselves in a beautiful language.

Assignment #1

Less than one month! One month and I will board the plane that will take me on a summer semester unlike any other. I get to go live in Madrid for one month! I get to submerge myself in a culture so foreign and yet so intriguing to me.
I expect to walk to streets of downtown Madrid and just listen. I will listen to the noises of the city at work, at play, to the music that I expect will be streaming from the venues, but mostly I will listen to the people. The language is so beautiful and so intoxicating. I hope to listen intensely and absorb any and all that I can. I feel like this is not only a once-in-a-lifetime trip but it is also a wonderful learning experience.
However, it's not JUST the language I hope to take in. Its the entire culture in a whole. I want to go out at night and sample the food while sitting back and listening to a live band. I want to watch the Spaniards dance, and maybe learn a few steps myself. I want to climb to the top of a tall building and see the lights of the city twinkle at night fall.
I even want to watch the sunset. I know that the sun over seas is the same sun as here at home, but then again...it's not. It's all about your perspective at the time and I can not wait to see the Spanish sunset.
I want to say that Spain won't change who I am as a person, but how can I know that? There are times in a persons life when someone, something, or some place affects their "person". It's a time like that which I pray for. I WANT a life altering experience...and I hope that this is it.