Today has been a long day...

...and I didn't even get a nap. I spent a lot of time today not packing. Some of my superfluous activities included: lunch with three good friends, hiding under some bed sheets (that I was supposed to be folding) and scaring my dog, it was hilarious, making a trip to target and buying earbuds and  'Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang' to read on the plane, freaking out because my ipod was broken and then fixing it, losing my cell phone and then finding it in the linen closet ?? and a very nice dinner on the back deck with my parents! I did however also spend a large amount of time today actually packing and now I am done. I am quite surprised everything fit in my suitcase and I keep imagining scenarios where I forgot to pack *insert essential item* and the ramifications of that. But I worry too much. "Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but doesn't get you anywhere." Words I try to live by :) Well here is a picture of me sitting on my luggage with my backpack and my purse (that happens to be my moms very first coach purse. It is ten years older than me, but I think its cute so its coming with me to spain!) Its hard to believe this is all I'm bringing with me!  Now its off to sleep so I can be nice and rested because this time tomorrow I will be in Madrid. I'll post again from across the Atlantic ocean (or in the airport depending on how much down time I have) adios amiogs! 

Procrastination at its Finest

I began packing today and of course got distracted. It never fails that I have something important to do, studying for finals, packing for a cross ocean trip and what do I do? Find ways to NOT do them of course! I found my attention being stolen away by my Spain guide book, some Euros I found and my super cute luggage tag (thanks to my secret buddy this season!) and decided the best thing to do would be to take a picture of them. Seems logical, right? I never realized how much smaller Euros are than US money. But the 1 euro coin, quarter, and canadian coin (I was given at Mcdonalds the other day?? thanks?) are all about the same size. BERY interesting! Off to actually pack, maybe.

Gettin Payperr

Spain in THREE days. To say I'm excited would be an understatement. I've gotten lots of things in the past few days,  just today I got an email today from the airline I'm flying with and, of course Spanair sends spanish emails.  I was had no problem figuring out what it said but I'm nervous about communicating with people in Spain because they speak with a lisp. It will be quite an adjustment. I got a pair of shoes from DSW (<3) which are SO comfortable and will hopefully keep my recently healed broken left foot pain-free whilst  traipsing around exploring the city. I [finally] got a digital camera but upon opening the boy I found that the camera strap was a bit broken. It isn't quite clear in this picture [taken on my new Nikon Coolpix!!] but if you look at the top of the strap you can see the fray, and its not the good (or bearable)  'How to Save a Life' kind of Fray.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to deal. I also tried to take a picture of my dog, but she's a little camera shy, little diva.

Anyways I spent the last few days getting payperrr
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khCokQt--l4&feature=youtu.be
teaching little humans to pitch at a softball camp! Now I've got a few more bucks to blow whilst in Bilbao! Now that I've got all these new things I guess its off to pack... even though I still have NO idea how I'm going to do it.

I'm on the right track, baby...

I leave exactly a week from today. Now that summer school is over and my brain is no longer completely swarming with chemistry and statistics I have some time to actually sit back and think about the prospect of flying more than 3000 miles away from home to live in a country where I am not fluent in the language. Holy cow! Name any emotion and I'd bet I'm feeling it right now. Excited, scared, thrilled, happy, nervous the list goes on... I have no idea how to pack for a 5 week trip in a different country?!?! But the proper way to start packing is probably by watching avatar, blogging, adding the new Lady Gaga album Born This Way to my iTunes library and writing more of my ramblings in a journal I was given for my birthday, right?! Thought so. Maybe tomorrow I'll be more productive. 

Home, super sweet home!

I finally have a home in Bilbao! Like I said before I signed up for home stay while I'm in Spain. I had been getting nervous that I'm leaving in 2 weeks and hadn't heard anything about where or with whom I’ll be staying. Park benches are nice and I'm not morally opposed to stealing if it’s for my own survival, but having someone to talk to and teach me Spanish things would be ideal! So I got an email during chemistry class the other day (3 hours of chem lecture OF COURSE I was on my computer not paying attention) that give the address of the apartment I will be staying in, and info about the family I'll be staying with. Not caring at all about valuable lecture information I was missing on intermolecular forces or molecular geometry I Google map-ed the address. It is ONE STREET OVER from the water (what I can only assume is the Bay of Biscay unless its known locally as something different)!!! And it’s only a 20 min train ride from the campus of the University. Needless to say I’ll be gettin my tan on while I'm in Bilbao! (Whilst wearing SPF 50 mind you, no skin cancer for me please and thank you.) I also found out that my host moms name is Magdalena, she is in her 30s and has two children, a boy and a girl. The girl's name is Paula and the boy is Rodrigo. I've never had little siblings before, but I love little kids so it should be an awesome experience. I'm so excited to meet my host family but I have yet to decide what the proper protocol on communicating with them before I arrive is. Once I figure that out, I will be sure to blog again! 

The Who, What, Where, When, Why and How???

WHO:

ME, that's who. I'm Annie. I am a rising junior in college (weird) a Sociology major and Bio minor. Its very exciting for me to say that because it took me two years of college to finally figure it out. I play on the softball team at my college, and I recently made the improv troupe, the Undeniably adjacent.

WHAT:

It is a 5 week, faculty lead program called UMW in Spain. I will be living with a host family and taking two language/culture classes at the Universidad de Duesto. There will be excursions with the group to places like Toledo to see the running of the bulls and all sorts of fun stuff like that!

WHERE: 

 Bilbao. Its in the North of Spain in Basque country. It is (according to Wikipedia) 14 km from the Bay of Biscay and (according to Google Maps) it is about 4 hours and 7 mins from Madrid!

WHEN:

I depart for Madrid on June 26th and I return back to the good ol USofA on July 29th

WHY:

Why not?? The program is relatively cheap, and I got a little scholarship that I applied for. There is no better time than the present and if I wasn't going abroad this summer I would honestly not be doing much of anything productive, so again why not!!??  

HOW:

One day this winter on campus I stumbled upon a Study Abroad booth with tons of informational pamphlets about all the of awesome programs that UMW sponsors. I have always wanted to go abroad but  never saw studying abroad for an entire semester as a viable option because I am on the softball team at UMW and that is sort of a HUGE time commitment. Some of the pamphlets were about 5 to 6 week summer programs, so of course I grabbed about 10 of them and immediately went back to my apartment and read through every single one. Paris and Italy were immediately thrown out because I don't speak Italian or French, all though I do love gelato and Nutella. There was a short program through Germany for Psychology majors which was basically all about Freud. I am all for a good old Psychoanalysis but I'm not a Psych major. So that left Bath, England, Bilbao, Spain and Tunisia. Tunisia I would have gotten the opportunity to learn Arabic and teach English to little humans (children, not midgets) but that idea was shot down as soon as I mentioned Tunisia to my parental units, some business about terrorism and war...pfffft. The England program was full so that leaves us with Spain! This is not to say that Spain was my last choice or my fall back option, but if you know me, any sort of decision is hard let alone the decision of which country to spend 6 weeks of my summer in! During my decision process the Study Abroad office was sooo helpful, I asked tons of annoying questions and they answered all of them without complaint!