21st & Packing

Trip Start Jan 08, 2009

Trip End May 23, 2009

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Flag of United States Verona, Wisconsin
Wednesday, January 6, 2010

I went out with friends last night for my 21st - I'm exhausted, but now I have to get serious about packing. Our living room has no floor unless you consider the piles of my clothes that cover it. Tonight means sifting through everything and moving everything out of the living room that isn't going to Spain. I'll be heading over to Tina's later to say goodbye quick, as she is leaving for Spain tomorrow, a day earlier than me. I'm so excited to have one of my best friends living just a 20 minute walk away from me in Valladolid! My mom is pretty stressed and worried that I'm procrastinating too much. I'm definitely procrastinating on packing but it's not like living in a foreign country for 5 months is a big deal to pack for anyways. I'll probably start writing my first entry in my journal tomorrow so I start getting the hang of doing that every day for the upcoming semester. Since I've obviously never been to Spain but have heard stories and done my own research, I'm going to list what I think I'll miss about the States and what I won't, so I can see how this list changes by the time I come back home in May.

Things I know I'm going to miss:
1. family & friends (everyone has been so supportive and excited for me!)
2. badger basketball games and march madness (already unsure how I'll cope with this one)
3. packer games & the super bowl (just as horrific to miss as #2)
4. longer showers
5. the ability to speak comfortably and fluently in order to convey my thoughts to others (this will be the hardest thing for me, I think - I like having somewhat of a vocabulary, which I won't have in Spanish at first)
6. my guilty pleasure shows - especially the ones on MTV (tough love 2, bully beatdown, steve wilkos show (classy))
7. more of a wardrobe

Things I won't miss:
1. wisconsin's nasty weather
2. difficult, stressful classes
3. the hectic, rushed atmosphere of our culture
4. our huge portion sizes
5. waiting to get to spain
6. for some reason I'm excited about the diet change and trying new food, and don't feel like I'll miss the food here much, especially our drastic portion sizes

I'm most excited about:
1. being independent
2. seeing the world from many different perspectives
3. meeting spanish friends
4. developing close relationships with my host family and professors
5. traveling
6. experiencing a continent with a history that is evident in its everyday, physical makeup - statues in the middle of streets, buildings with beautiful architecture (all the cathedrals!), etc.
7. being really active - walking everywhere and the runs along the river and through campo grande that I want to go on

That's all I have for now! Unless I get bored in the airport on Friday afternoon this will be my last entry until I'm in Spain!

Verona hotels

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