overview: TRIP OF A LIFETIME

My dear friends and family:

And here we go.  I am now officially 14 hours into my travel adventure of a lifetime.  The 10 hour sleepless flight from SFO to londons Hiethrow airport flew by…with the accompaniment of three and a half movies and a lot of language-limited awkward small talk with my English studying seatmate from Denmark…(he tried to explain his favorite place was union square…and it took about 20 minutes for me to have even the slightest idea what he was talking about.)

Today technically marks my first day on my 10 month abroad adventure. From September 24 until July 19, 2011.  Two countries. Two school programs.  Two different subjects.  Two languages.  Bring it on.

The first leg of my adventure will be spent in Oviedo, Spain (a very small town in the north of Spain) for the next 11 weeks.  The town is about 40 minutes via bus from the ocean, 4 hours by train from Madrid, and 9 hours from Barcalona.  Its located to the west of the grand Pryonese mountains, and directly below a large mountain range called Los picos de Europa.  The town is small, not a big tourist draw and supposedly has a “university town” type feel. 

The program I am studying with is extremely small- I believe there are only 4 of us…and we are all somewhat responsible for our own housing upon arrival.   Yes….i have no clue where I will be sleeping 2 days from now.  It makes me a little nervous how calm I feel about that fact.  

After Spain, I will meet my parents in London for Christmas which will morf into phase two of my adventure, London!  I will be studying at Kings College in London (a part of the University of London) from January until June- with a full month off in april and a month of extra spare time tacked onto the tail end of the trip.   I have lots of friends that are studying abroad in various places in Europe at various times of the year…so there is a lot of side traveling in order….Jessie in nice, Nicole in Ireland, 2 Rachels in Spain, and many many more J.

In my time abroad, I hope to see everything I can see, experience everything I can experience, and adapt and live in a way that is utterly foreign to me.  I picked my programs very specifically because they are both extremely independent.  My goal is to stay as far away from crowded tour busses as humanly possible-  and to mesh in with the cultures of every place I visit. 

I hope to hear from you all while over here!  I am determined not to be terrible at keeping in touch- if im not your friend already, friend me on skype Jackie.zupsic  or shoot me an email whenever at Jackiezupsic@gmail.com . 

Adios! saying goodbye at the airport-