It's Real Now.

Hello all! Hola!

I know it's been a pretty long time since my first (and only) post, but not much has happened until recently.

Basically, it's sinking in that I'm leaving...

Soon.
     For a year.
           In a foreign country.
                         
                            Alone.

On Monday morning, my dad and I wandered every inch of Target, grabbing anything I'd need for at least my first month living in Spain.

Shampoo? Check.
Conditioner? Check.
MORE conditioner? Check. (Gotta keep the locks lush).
Soap? Check.
Toothpaste? Ooh it's on sale! Double check.
And so on and so forth.

Oh and we also got the Big Mama-
 my suitcase.

Man am I glad the luggage section is pretty secluded from the rest of Target because my dad and I must've looked crazy crawling around on the floor and practically IN the suitcases.

There were so many to choose from, but in the end we ended up choosing the biggest Swiss Gear bag we could find.

See?! Pretty darn big! So now I have all my "Spain Only" stuff in it so I don't ruin it before I leave. 

Even having "Spain Only" things made it even more real for me. Sometimes the only word to describe my feelings about leaving is "Woah." 

Woah! I just got the ticketing email from my travel agent...I leave SEPTEMBER 3!!

WOAH!! Holy moly this is even more real now!! Before, I was leaving "sometime in the first week of September"...now it's "September 3rd." 

In 11 days.. eleven! I'll be getting on a plane at SFO, flying thousands of miles to London Heathrow, flying even more to Madrid and FINALLY to my new home- Granada. 

So I leave the 3rd from California and arrive the 5th in Andalucia...that's a lot of travel. It's gonna be worth it right?

Right. 

Muchas gracias for keeping up with my little ol' blog, soon it will become much more exciting!

¡Hasta pronto!

¡Hola!

¡Hola!

Hello, my name is Tessa and this is my blog documenting my year abroad in Granada, Spain.

Instead of going to my junior prom, building the homecoming float, and cheering on my school football team, I will be in Spain...just trying to keep up with everything.

I will not be living the average life of a 16/17 year old this upcoming school year- I will be in a country where I know nothing. I won't know anybody, I won't know the customs, I won't know what's "cool" or not, I won't even know what people are saying 99% of the time.

Thanks to Rotary Youth exchange, I will be traveling from my small northern California town to a much larger European city and living my life there for about 11 months. 

As much as I am nervous and afraid, I am also incredibly ecstatic about my new soon-to-be life. I love travel so very much and learning about cultures of the world intrigues me to no end. 

Along with being fascinated by the world, I am also interested in writing, more specifically journalism. My dream job is to be a travel journalist and document my world adventures (and get paid doing it). 

Because of these reasons, I am starting this blog.

If you have read this far, thank you! It really means so much to me.

If you have read this far, I dearly hope you will continue to read my blog entries as my adventure becomes more of a, well, adventure! 

Muchas gracias, thank you!