Welcome to my international roller coaster. On Friday, September 1, I leave for Spain, where I will live with a host family and study at the University of Salamanca for the fall semester. My previous experience in Spain can be summed up in two words: culture shock. But I was a dumb kid then, and now...well, I wasn't voted "Least Changed Since Freshman Year" by accident. If nothing else, my experience this summer has made me appreciate the opportunity to study abroad so much more. I was faced with an endless string of obstacles and red tape, and I came uncomfortably close to being shut out of this program. Luckily that didn't happen, and I'm not going to dwell on it because this blog is about my experience in Spain, not the events leading up to it.

In a twist of fate, I discovered that a Goucher acquaintance of mine had the same host mother as me last year. This will give me something to talk to Mamen about when I meet her, if I can manage to get the idea across in my broken Spanish. I know this semester is going to be a lot of up and down--and probably backwards and inside out too--but I'm excited about this. All the worries, expectations, anxiety, excitement, jet lag, culture shock, language barriers...it's all part of the roller coaster, right? Bring it on.