The Beginning.

Google is REALLY annoying. I just spent at least 30 minutes trying to recover my password. It kept on giving me the security question "Name of Company" which is really annoying because 1) I don't work and 2) I never even was asked to give an answer for a security question. hmph. Anyway, the real point of this blog is to share my life next year in Spain. Here is a brief summary of what has happened so far:

I have been on 3 mission trips to Santiago, Chile, and have always felt that it would be cool to live in another country, but I never really thought that I would ever end up doing it. I saw the exchange students and wondered what life was like for them, living in another country. When I heard that Isabelle Shively was going to Italy, I thought more about it and explored the idea. In November, I submitted my Pre-Application to AFS (the American Field Service) and started working on my full application. IN the beginning of January, I submitted my full application and in March, I got the email saying I had been accepted by AFS Spain!!!! :) I received my host-family placement 5 days later in late March (which i heard later is REALLY EARLY, most people don't get their host family placements until May-June... ). I learned that I would be living in Tres Cantos, a planned community north of Madrid, and I was going to have 3 "siblings:" Pablo (14), Luis (11), and Elisa (9). I had gotten the email during school and my mom had texted me during class, so I went over during lunch to see where it was and learn about them. I didn't learn much, though, because it was during school, but after school I learned a bunch more and kinda stalked them in a totally non-creepy way. Now, in the past few months, I have been doing random paper work for my visa, other paperwork for AFS, and I have been counting down the days until I leave (I don't know the exact day but it is sometime around September 4th... only 100 MORE DAYS!!! AHHHH!!!!). The closer I get the more excited I get, but also nervous about the whole thing... But I guess that is to be expected. I  still can't believe that I am going and I don't think it will totally sink in until I am on the plane to New York...

My host family is SUPER COOL! The dad, Fernando, is an architect (something I think it would be cool to do) and the mom, Carmen, works for GSK. I am hopefully going to go to the same school Pablo goes to but I don't really know yet... They also have a cat and down the street from their house (yes, i did look it up on Bing maps) there is a pool, a basketball court, some tennis courts, and a playground. I will be living about 15 miles outside of Madrid and I CANT WAIT!!

Also, these blogs posts take forever to write... Holy cow! Anyway, I am SUPER excited and nervous but I know it will be a GREAT year!!! :)