As I sit in my room a little over twenty-four hours until my flight, I reminisce upon the past few months of preparing for Spain… or at least thinking about preparing! While I believe I have been planning for the trip since December, my “preparation” has actually been spent daydreaming about Spain’s breathtaking architecture, vibrant culture, and, of course, mouth-watering tapas. Little did I know, planning and packing for a study abroad trip would be some tough work!
If you know me, you know that I am the world’s worst packer. I once forgot to pack pants for Thanksgiving at my grandmother’s house… yeah I’m not quite sure how that happened either. I decided that I would pack for Spain the week before departure. (You can imagine this was not my best idea.) This week I have conducted vast research and found almost every website explaining the best ways to pack for a study abroad trip. I even found my way into the depths of Pinterest to find easy packing solutions! Although I am not sure how much help I got from these websites, at least I know that I packed pants!
All of this research made me think about why I wanted to go abroad. I have always loved traveling and experiencing new cultures. I especially like indulging in different foods! Although I am doing something I love, this trip is different than any other vacation I have ever taken. Being a Spanish minor, I obviously wanted to squeeze in any credits I could get, but there is more to it than that. By traveling and studying abroad, I think I will be able to truly experience Spanish culture and push myself to step outside of my comfort zone. I want to be able to be confident while speaking Spanish, and I believe this is a great way to test myself and to achieve this goal.
As the week gets closer to Saturday, I honestly feel less and less anxious. I copied my passport, planned snacks for the plane, I even found out my friend is sitting next to me on our flight over to Spain! All anxiety is fading away… unless of course we are talking about my packing: I will admit I might be slightly anxious about forgetting something, but for now I am just counting down the hours until I am in Spain! (Let’s just hope I remember to pack more than one pair of shoes!)