The Journey Begins

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Yesterday I received an email from Juliet, my school's Study Abroad and Exchange advisor. It read:

"Thank you for your application to study abroad in Spain: Madrid .
I am delighted to inform you that have been selected for an interview."

This is the next big step. I submitted my application (did that the day after my birthday) and haven't looked back since; Instead I have been planning the many ways to finance this trip which is definitely going to involve trying to surmount the fashion-mania that no doubt arrests all travels stepping foot in any major European city.

So my interview is set for this upcoming Tuesday at 2pm...Wish me luck I suppose, but no one should be reading this until I am on the plane.

I have been advised to dress as though I am attending a job interview. My intent is to show the interviewers that my time abroad will be both "positive and constructive" and that I am not just trying to party it up Spanish-style. Of course that is of the many perks.

My goals are simple:

I want to widen my world-view by

- swimming in cultures richer than I am accustomed to
- adapting to customs that I may very well find outrageous (yes, me!)
- fending for myself entirely, once and for all

Mold myself into the erudite cosmopolite that I have yearned to be since I can remember

Refine my Spanish

Create wider networks of friends

And as always, learn a thing or two about myself and the world around me.

I will carry on the Order of Los Angeles single-handedly and find inspiration in the streets of Toledo, the city that birthed the idea for such an order.

SEE YOU SOON SPACE COWBOYS...

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