My New Travel Blog!

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Sitting at home, less than a month to go until my plane leaves for Frankfurt, Germany and then to Madrid, Spain. I still have five homework assignments to complete, and they're huge! I have to read "Spain in Mind" an anthology of short stories and poems written about Spain and write journal entries about them, at least five sentences long. Then I have to read a book called "Writing Poetry" and write journal entries about each chapter. I have to draw fourteen pictures in my other class journal. Then I have to make two powerpoints - one about Diane Arbus and the second with pictures I have taken (6 people, 6 places, 6 things, 3 self portraits, and 3 more self portraits which I can't be in). So I'm going to be a busy, busy bee for the next three weeks!

I decided to make an online travel journal. A couple of years ago a friend of mine, Leslie, went to Australia and documented everything in a travel journal. Admittedly, I didn't read it all. In the beginning I tried to follow it, but... I don't know. Travel journals have never been my thing. I'm trying to get into this one, though. I really want to keep track of everything I do in Spain. I already have to write two separate travel journals for both of my classes, but they're going to be more class specific. However, I think by combining them and all of my thoughts, I can easily keep an online, less specific travel journal. It can be about everything from the food I sample to the night clubs that I visit.

Here's a little introduction about my Spain trip. It's through the school system of Georgia, first of all. So it's not just a vacation; I am actually going there to study. There were dozens of options, including Italy (where my family is from), England (where I actually speak the language), and Japan (where my best friend Ashe really wants to go), but despite these options I picked Spain.

As a child, I was in love with matadors - their flamboyant costumes, their control of their fear, and their ability to stare death right in the face and not only survive, but turn the tables. I love animals, and I am sad that the bulls are killed, and that their deaths can be quite brutal if one strike of the sword doesn't kill them instantly. But the thing is, when something like that is so much a part of a culture, I can't help but feel like the bull is dying for a valiant cause. It may not realize that, but it has died in honor. And it had its 15 minutes of Spain, with the thousands of spectators all over the country (for many bull fights are now put on television). Face it, I'd rather die at the hands of a matador after giving a good show then dying in some meat factory in midwestern America.

So, I'm excited about my trip. About the language and the culture and the food and (obviously) the bull fights. But I'm also afraid. I've never travelled outside of the country before. And I've never traveled anywhere period for an entire month. I'm nervous about the money, the homesickness, the food (I'm quite picky), missing my dogs, nobody feeding my goldfish, and a million other things.

I'm going to dinner with my friend today. Right now I'm watching Winnie the Pooh with my sister (lol yes I'm 19 and watching Pooh Bear). But really, I'm just having a relaxing day before I really kick it into homework gear.

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