Today we had orientation at 9:30. Breakfast was cafe con leche and these muffin pastries with raspberry jam. The cafe con leche was so good and strong and the food was delicious. This trip is really perfect for me. All the excursions sound amazing, fun, and cultural. The classes seem awesome as well. I'm going to take the 6 credit spanish class, with spanish art, cinema, and culture which are all worth 3 credits. I feel so overcome with emotion that I'm not entirely sure how to put it in words. I'm so proud of myself for doing this. I [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today we are going to Valencia to meet our host families. I'm a bit nervous but not too much, more anxious than nervous. It takes about 5 hours to get there from Madrid, with one stop. Once in Valencia I start getting butterflies. This is where I'm going to be living for the next 3 and a half months. It has a good vibe. Palm trees everywhere, along with beautiful old buildings. It's the perfect combination of historic, modern, and beach. We pull up to Palau de la musica and meet Alfreddo. He drives us to our house in Placa [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today we went to Toledo, only a little ways from Madrid. For breakfast we went to Museo del Jamon, which I had seen on the discovery channel. We were all still hungry from the small tapas dinner last night, and all we had for breakfast was one piece of toast and cafe con leche. Toledo was completely different from what I expected. It was a city as an island with a river going all the way around it. It was beautiful, and it's rich history only added on. We first went to a sword making company and I bought a [View Full Entry]

---

---

The feeling right before going on a trip is my favorite feeling in the world. There's the perfect combination of hope, excitement, fear, mystery, and adventure all wrapped into one. If there were a drug to replicate this feeling, consider me an addict. Thursday, Sept. 6th, I left New Paltz, and headed for JFK International Airport with no regrets or hesitation. I couldn't help but feel proud that I was really going through with it. All my life I had said I would, and imagined myself doing it, but it's really happening. Right now. I worked hard for this, and [View Full Entry]

---

---