first blog ever!!!!

---

Well
I dont even know where to begin, I have never blogged before but this seems like the most sensible route to let people know how i am doing and what i am up to. I dont have all the email addresses i wish i did and this way people dont have to feel like they need to respond-- although any comments and responses would be great!!!!

soooooo. Alicante, España. My new life. I have nothing but amazing things to say. Leading up to coming to Spain, i was excited of course but also soooo nervous. When i got here, everything just clicked. I was no longer nervous or anxious at all and instantly became friends with everyone in my program. the first two nights we stayed in the dorms for orientation, which was fun but i was eager and ready to get to my homestay.

I got here to my apartment in Alicante on a sunday night and everything fell right into place. I like with my madre, padre, hermano and abuela sometimes. It is a big complex family structure but i spend most of my time with my "brother, mother, father and grandma." The family dynamics could not be more perfect.

My madre here reminds me so much of my mom from home its unreal, so amazing. We have great conversations and laugh all the time together. She cooks amazing food and loves to watch TV with me. I love her so much already.

I was struggling at first with my spanish, i thought it was going to fall into place and be much easier but it was definitely a struggle at first. I have been speaking better and better each day and am on my way to being fluent i hope.

I live in a neighborhood called GRAN VIA and its pretty far away from everyone else, right off the bat i had some ttroubles with the bus system and being lost in alicante for hours. Now that i have the hang of it it is a piece of cake. I have two close friends that live in my neighborhood, Rachael and Jimmy. Thank god for them.

I really dont know what to say besides that fact that i have never been so quick to call a place home. It is so amazing here and i feel like ive been here for months and months.

Europe is amazing, spain is amazing, alicante is amazing i love it all.

i am in the process of making travel plans right now to London, Morrocco, Italy, Amsterdam, Palma de Mallorca, maybe Greece or France too.

I have made so many new friends that i love and cherish, but i also feel so lucky that lots of my best girl friends are in Europaaa at the same time as me.

I am the luckiest person in the world.

dos besos

---