Friday, May 30, 2014

Pre-Departure

30 May 2014

So today is the day that I set off for Spain. Excited? Yes, maybe a little. Nervous? Yeah, probably a lot. I put this off until the day I was departing because I don't really feel to much or strongly about stuff like this until a few hours until it is supposed to occur. The same thing when I was leaving for Basic Training although truth be told I was a little more nervous about that.

As for my expectations during the trip, I expect I'm going to be extremely confused for the first week or two, then after that period I will probably settle in just in time to leave and go back home. I expect that I am going to have a lot of fun and snap some great pictures. I am a huge fan of photography and do it as a hobby so that is what I am most excited about. I also look forward to the tapas. The handbook sent out talked about that and it really intrigued me. I have been away for the most part working at my unit so this will be like a nice vacation away from the blue collar work. It is a double edged sword however because I absolutely need to receive an A or an -A. The opportunity to get a scholarship from ROTC lies on this class because I am currently sitting on a 2.46 GPA and an A in the summer will boost my cumulative up to a 2.5 which is what I need in order to be eligible to receive it. And I really don't want to take second session summer courses. I don't have the money. This means I'm going to have to buckle down and study study study. I'm sure being immersed along with the help from the professors will allow me to accomplish this task.

Aside from academics I look forward to meeting and giving my host family my gift. I went to Ocean City a week before today and came back with some salt water taffy and a good amount of sunburn. I feel that the salt water taffy would be a good gift because it is a very cultural part of Maryland and I thought it would be cool to share as a thank you for housing us and sharing their culture.