Home Again Home Again... Until January

You do not realize how blissful a week at home is until you have it. After a semester full of homework, a packed schedule and a good amount of coffee, nothing is better than coming home for a break. For this Thanksgiving break we had an entire week off as opposed to a normal couple of days. This made for a lot more time relax and at least for me a lot more time to get organized. As I said earlier I am studying abroad in Spain next semester and I leave January 21st. EEEEEEPPPP! It’s coming up so fast and I am both excited but nervous! I've been to Europe for a trip in high school, but living in a foreign country for 4 months is another story. So in preparation for study abroad I had a few adventures this past break.

From what I learned this past week, take a bit from my experience! First off the biggest thing I can tell you is ALWAYS be on top of what you have to get together for study abroad and be organized about it. There is a good amount of paperwork that you need to get in such as passports, VISA's and medical forms (mine turned out to be interesting to send in because it had "fractured fibula" in probably the smallest handwriting possible at the very bottom, oops!). My mistake was not looking up my VISA information ahead of time and ended up getting to the Spanish Consulate in Boston later than I could of. All the paper work takes a bit to get together but in the end its all for a trip of a lifetime!

 Second....packing. I can't even begin to tell you how much I am not prepared to figure that one out. Granada has bit of a warmer climate than Vermont and Rhode Island but I am basically packing for every weather condition minus packing for frigid-cold weather. So far for packing AIFS (the program I am studying abroad through) provides a packing list which is helpful! Between that and talking with friends who have studied abroad in the past year or so I am starting to figure out what I do and do not need to bring.

A little warmer than New England, 50's are shorts weather here

 Over break I had to get all the paper work together and start putting together things for the trip. Since I have a month for Christmas break before I leave, I will have plenty of time to get everything else all set! The biggest thing for me is that I get a good amount of time at home before I go. I got to spend all Thanksgiving break with family and friends which was great!

And I can't even describe to you how full I still am from all the food, sweet goodness. For my family we have two Thanksgiving dinners in one day. The first we have with my Nana around lunch time and then we have Thanksgiving dinner with my cousins from the other side of the family. All the food the entire day was unreal and once we got to Thanksgiving dinner, we realized how much we had gotten ourselves into. My cousin Kimberlee thought, with leftovers in mind, that getting a 25 lbs. turkey for seven to eight people was a sweet deal. I can tell you first hand we did not even make a dent in the pan there was so much food, one of the best things about the holidays! I am unbelievably excited to be heading to Spain but with all the preparation needed to get done before I go over there, nothing was better than being home!

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