Well, this is it. In a little over 24 hours from now I’ll be on a plane, inching ever farther from the States and closer to Madrid, arriving in Salamanca sometime around lunch on Wednesday. Well, what will be lunchtime for me – seeing how I’ll be 6 hours ahead of almost everyone back home, and everyone will either be sleeping or just waking up. WOOHOO JET LAG. I can’t wait.
In an attempt to give this blog thing a quick first run-through, and allow the family of mine who prefer to live vicariously through me (*cough* Fran *cough*), I thought I’d share some pre-travel experiences and thoughts as I undoubtedly procrastinate everything to the very last minute, per usual. Maybe next time I decide to travel I’ll just look back here and remind myself of everything not to do. Plus twenty years from now I’m going to need something to prove to my kids that their father was actually cool at some point in life. Although this will also probably serve to bite me in the ass when they start saying, “But dad, when you were our age, you… blah blah blah.” But anyway I’m clearly getting way too far ahead of myself here.
So, without further ado, here’s a random assortment of thoughts from the night as I begin to look over everything:
· I should have invested in a multi-purpose jacket. Now, I get to take several to cover a variety of weather conditions as opposed to taking one which covers all of them. Whoops.
· I need to buy something for my host mother. (Fun Facts: Her name is María, she’s 66.) I’ve never been one of those overly zealous “AMERICA!” people (in fact, the less American I seem when I’m over there the happier I’ll be; however, seeing how I’m both extremely white and still can’t fully roll my R’s, I’ll undoubtedly stick out like a sore thumb. Not to mention, skinny jeans really aren’t my thing), so to bring a t-shirt or a mug with our flag on it just doesn’t seem appropriate to me. We’ll stick with chocolate. Everyone loves chocolate. Hershey bars and Reese’s cups specifically. Who doesn’t love the perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate in a bite-sized piece of awesomeness? Exactly.
· I don’t actually start any classes until the 19th of September, and those are only three of them. Another two don’t start until the 26th. The first couple of weeks are all orientation programs and there’s an intensive Spanish class for 5 days on the 6, 7, 9, 12, and 13th of September, followed by some oral quiz to decide what grammar class I’ll be in for the rest of the semester. The combination of these things completely eliminated the only fear I had heading over there: not being able to understand everything that was going on the first day of class. WIN.
· My sister decided that because she herself could not physically come to Europe, she would make a Flat Stanley version of herself, so I could take pictures with it and she could tag herself in them on Facebook. She even said it was “backpacked sized, can be taken everywhere.” How thoughtful and convenient of her. I guess I have no choice now.
· Looking at a map of Salamanca on Google, it appears that I am pretty close to the train station. Score. Also, I need to find some sort of magical site to give me massive discounts on plane and trains fees, seeing how these will be the two things eating away at most of my money. Or maybe I can hitchhike to save. And don’t worry; I’ve seen the movie Taken. I’ll stay away from all the pretty Italian guys asking me if I want to share a taxi, because they’re so damn expensive. Sorry to disappoint the European sex slave trade, but you’re not going to be getting any piece of this American ass.
Here’s my Skype name thing, because if I don’t put it down somewhere right now, I am going to forget it and it will indubitably be useful but most importantly, it’s free, and everyone loves free things: joesharp27.
So, with that being said, here are some final closing words from Mark Twain:
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
ADIOS, AMERICA!
So, with that being said, here are some final closing words from Mark Twain:
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
ADIOS, AMERICA!
