Tres Meses

Three months from today, I will be in Spain, having just arrived a few days ago and beginning to meet the people I’ll spend the year with.  Considering how recently the six month mark seems, three months will fly by in no time.  That’s incredibly exciting but also a little scary.

I don’t think I need to go into the reasons why that’s exciting.  I mean, it’s Spain.  But scary?  Yeah, definitely.  With the exception of the three and a half weeks I spent in Spain three summers ago, I’ve never been more than a hundred miles away from my family for an extended period of time.  Even though I’ve gone long periods of time (and by long, I just mean two months or so) without visiting home, UCLA’s only a 45-minute drive from home (that’s assuming no traffic, which is quite a big assumption in LA), so if I know that, if I’m ever suddenly overwhelmed by a bout of homesickness, I can easily resolve that.

I’m really happy I stayed in LA for college, because I love LA (and I love UCLA).  I just wish that I didn’t come from the greater LA area, because it would have been fun to live somewhere new for college.  (Unfortunately, east coast schools are ridiculously expensive, especially compared to UCLA, which gave me a scholarship I couldn’t refuse.)  So it will be really nice to have total geographical independence when I’m in Spain.  Not that I lack independence here, but it will be good for me, I think, to not feel obligated to go home for family birthday parties and the like.

However, that also means that I won’t be seeing my family often, and, not gonna lie, I really like my family.  Like I said, it will be a good experience to learn how to live away from them, but I’ll also miss them a lot.  Fortunately, they’ll be visiting me in Spain.  My dad, stepmom, and half-siblings will be coming in November, my mom and aunt will be coming in February, and then my mom and sister will come in June.  And I’ll be home for Christmas break.

Then there’s the other issue of missing my friends.  It won’t be all that different with most of my high school friends, since the majority of them live on the other side of the country anyway (with the exception of Amber, who I’ve grown accustomed to living nearby).  And, actually, Jessica will be right there in Madrid with me, Sara will be in Córdoba, and I guess Jean is coming to Madrid later?  Anyway, as for my college friends, honestly, it wasn’t that hard to be without them over the summer, but maybe that was because I knew I’d be back shortly.  It will be a little sad to be without them and to miss out on all the fun they’re having.

I’ll also be missing out on everything going on at UCLA.  USPA, BruinLife, Bruin Partners, fun events like Dance Marathon and Spring Sing…  I think it will make me more appreciative of these things my senior year, though.

I guess I just wanted to explain that there are some drawbacks to my year abroad in Spain, and I’m sure I’ll start worrying more as August 20th approaches.  On the whole, though, Spain is going to be AMAZING.  I really can’t believe that I’ll be living there in three months. ♥

In terms of applying for my visa, the process is going a lot better than I expected.  I basically just need to finish getting my certification of absence of police records (and all the steps  that go with it), and then I have an appointment with the Spanish consulate on June 9th.  Then I should be pretty much set for Spain and won’t have to stress about anything (except for figuring out how to pack my life into a few suitcases) all summer.

Also, I’ve added this webcam to my homepage, and it’s kind of fun to have a little glimpse into my future city: