I Have Arrived!

Well folks, it's official....Jordan Carlton is in Spain! Keep your fingers crossed everyone, I'm going to be the US ambassador until August. Kind of scary, right? haha

But I'm sitting here at my desk (at 2:30 am, dang jet lag), in my own room, using wireless Internet, and just generally being a very happy guy. It's really hard to make myself believe that yes, I am in fact in Spain. After all these years of wanting to come, I have finally made it.

Now, before you go and get your hopes up, no, I haven't taken any pictures yet. Life has been one huge whirlwind since the second I got here, so I just really haven't had any time at all. No worries though, if you know me well at all, you know that I'll be snapping pictures a mile a minute very soon.

So one of the things I did on an earlier post was list my top 5 things I'm worried about. I feel like it would be interesting to address those from a "first glance of Spain" viewpoint and maybe again later on.

1. First of all, I was nervous about the language. And let me tell you, it was a legit concern. Who knew that the only thing they spoke here was Spanish? haha I'm learning little by little that in some cases, my Spanish is a lot better than I thought it was. Yet in other cases, I have so much to learn. And living with a host dad that doesn't speak a word of English (except of course, for the word "Welcome," which was the ultimate tease. Dad:"Welcome Jordan!" Jordan:"Oh good, you speak English then?" Dad:"rattleoffatonofspanishgoingamileaminuteandhopefullyyouunderstand" Jordan:"Oh, guess not......") isn't the easiest thing I've ever done. But that's the reason I came here - to push myself. And hopefully when this is all said and done with I'll walk away with something amazing. And I'll have the Spanish skills to prove it.

2. The second thing was the host family. And oh man, what a host family do I have. I'm pretty sure this guy is rich, because he has every electronic luxury known to man, which is a big rarity in Spain. The fact that I have my own room AND wireless internet is amazing, and it's something that extremely few other students get. Regardless, like I said, he doesn't speak a word of English, other than "Welcome." And that word isn't exactly helpful after day 1. But he makes sure we get plenty of practice and he is extremely patient, so it makes for a good situation. I still haven't met his kids, but I'm sure that will come soon.

3. The school is absolutely beautiful! Really old and kinda small, but very beautiful. I still haven't had classes, and orientation comes bright and early tomorrow morning at 8:30, so I'll know more then.

4. Classes I still know nothing about. But if speaking in them is as difficult as speaking out in the world, things could be crazy for awhile.

5. And who could forget the pickpockets? Other than being incredibly OCD about checking my stuff over and over and over again, it hasn't been too bad. As far as I know nothing has gone up missing.

So there you have it. What used to be things to be nervous about are now just a little old part of life. No big deal, right?

Other than a little culture shock, so far nothing has been too crazy. Life here is much slower paced as siestas and a nice, long afternoon cafe or chocolate are standard. Hopefully I'll catch up to life here and learn to blend in. Until then, I'll just be content being the obvious extranjero (foreigner) and keep on chugging along.

But just know that things are going pretty great so far and you all have nothing to worry about! Spain is a beautiful, welcoming place and I know this is going to be the experience of a lifetime.

Love you all!