Well folks, it's official. I only have 7 days until I jet off for the land of bull fights, flamenco, and paella. España is calling my name and I'm getting anxious to finally get there. It's been nice to be home with the family and it's been great to finally tie up all of my loose ends from the school year, but I'm ready for my adventure.
Since I don't really have much information about Spain, my host family, the school, or anything else, I'm starting to get somewhat nervous. And since I don't have much else to talk about except how nervous I am, I think I'll list the top 5 things I'm nervous about. So here we go:
1. The language - Spanish is a language that I have studied for years. All throughout high school and almost every semester of college has been peppered with verb conjugations, sentence structures, and enough vocabulario to make my head spin. Yet even after all of the studying, the quizzes, the tests, etc., I still feel like I can barely ask where the bathroom is. Since I'll be living where Spanish is the absolute only thing that is spoken, I've gotta say I'm a bit scared. Will my habilidades de español live up to my expectations? Time can only tell.
2. The host family - It's funny how I'm a week away and yet I still have no clue who I'll be living with. Will it be an old cougar who smokes three packs a day? Or will it be a family of 10 with kids of all ages? Will they be catholic? Protestant? Muslim? Will they be patient with my undoubtedly non-stop mistakes with their language? Will they welcome me and treat me like a member of the family? Will they feed me? These questions are only the tip of the iceberg as I try and prepare myself to live with a set of perfect strangers for the next 3 months.
3. The school - A centuries old universidad. Classes all in spanish. A student population twice the size of OU. Strike one, two, and three. I only hope that the teachers have learned to respect the language barrier.
4. The classes - Introducción al mundo de los negocios (Introduction to the business world), Espanol avanzado (Advanced Spanish), Composicion Conversacion y Lectura: La Espana actual a traves de los medios (Composition, Conversation, and Literature: Present-day Spain through the media), La globalizacion y la economia espanola (Globalization and the spanish economy). These classes would be hard enough in English. Enough said there.
5. The pickpockets - Supposedly Madrid is home to some of the most notorious thieves in the entire world. I'm way too naive to be able to compete with these guys. I only hope I can remember to not be too unobservant of my surroundings and of my belongings.
So I would say those are definitely my top five nerve-wrackings things. Of course, there are about a hundred more things I'm unbelievable excited for, a lot of which are also on the above list. I've got a lot of hope riding on this trip and I'm pretty sure it's not going to let me down.
Solamente tiempo dirá, ¿no?
Yep, only time will tell.
1 comment:
J! I'm so excited for you! But I'm sad I won't get random text messages ordering me to listen to a particular song. At least not as often. ;)
And now, to address your concerns:
1. Jordito, your espanol is excellent! Once you get there, you'll realize you know it better than you think. Or if you don't, then what better way to learn?!
2. Hopefully your host family will be a mariachi band. You'll fit right in.
3. You already proved that a goofy kid from Calvin could conquer OU, now it's time to take on the world.
4. Everyone knows college isn't about the classes, duh. ;) No sweat on that front.
5. Umm, didn't you see those fashions I sent you? Just don't wear clothes with pockets. Problem solved.
P.S. I love and miss you!
P.P.S. Save room in your suitcase. ;)
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