63 Hours and Counting

That's about how long there is from the time I'm writing this until I board a flight in Detroit that will mark the start of my five-ish-month-long stay in Seville. I suppose I've been preparing for this since I started taking Spanish in 7th grade. I've studied Spain and its language for years, and now I'll finally be able to not just visit, but live there and immerse myself in the culture, to use the favorite phrase of study abroad programs everywhere. I am beyond excited and mildly terrified, and I will miss my dear friends and family while I'm gone, but above all I feel ready. I've been preparing for this long enough, and now I'm ready.

There have certainly been some snags along the way. The visa application process was irritating, arduous, and involved the briefest trip to Chicago I'll ever take. Just today I received my new credit card reading "Kenda" instead of Kendra. And packing everything into one suitcase, one carry-on, and one "personal item" (read: my backpack) is proving a daunting task. I know, though, that after all is said and done it will be an amazing experience. I could go on with any number of cliches about how these next few months will change my life, but frankly I'm sick of doling them out to people, and if you're reading this you probably know all of them already. It's going to be awesome, and that's that.

Blogs are almost imperative for study abroad students, and with good reason. This is where I'll share my experience with the homeland, where I'll write about all my glorious Spanish adventures and post lovely pictures of the Spanish land and maybe even say things in actual Spanish. (But not too much because the majority of my readership will be English-speaking. And by "the majority of my readership," I mean my mom.)

In a few days, I'll be gone. In a few months, I'll be back. Check back here to find out what happens in between. Hasta luego, Estados Unidos. España, vengo ya.

(Note: While it looks like it says "Kendra dotes," the URL is supposed to be Kendra dot es, or Kendra.es, because .es is the internet country code for Spain. It would be more clever if I could use a period in the URL, but alas, I'm left with Kendra dotes. At least it doesn't say Kenda.)