First Blog Post! Day Before Departure

Applying, purpose and hopes

To start off, saying I'm excited for this upcoming trip would be an understatement. Finding out about CIEE happened at the beginning of 2018 while searching google for study abroad opportunities. I thought I found it too late since the early application deadline already closed but I still thought I might have a chance. Having no summer plans - which is odd for me - I went out on a whim and rushed to tell my parents about the program after finding out everything about what I could about it. Luckily convincing them, I then spent that evening going through all the different programs that are offered. Finding the marine science and field work program in Palma de Mallorca, Spain definitely appealed the most to me after I found it because of the fact that marine biology has been a side interest of mine ever since I was in elementary school. Living in Texas, there's not much to do with marine science unless I were to travel to the coast, which is a good 3-4 hours away. I eventually solidified neuroescience as my life study but the fascination I have with animals of the ocean never left. Going to teachers for recommendation letters and getting in all the needed supplies, I pretty much completed the application myself and told my parents I would let them know if I got in. When the time came, it was powderpuff week at our school (basically homecoming but gender roles are switched) and I checked my email during one of our lunch competitions. To add to my excitement from school, I was overjoyed to find out I was accepted into the program. All of my family and friends were also excited for my acceptance as they all know I have a travel bug and wouldn't want to do anything else over the summer.

Excitement and traveling 

Today, 1 day before I leave for my trip, I could say that I'm most excited about traveling abroad and learning more about a topic I've loved since I was a kid. I hold high expectations for the trip as I've been to Europe and was completely blown away by its beauty, but I don't this this trip could do any less. I could see the first day being a little overwhelming because when I've gone on vacations, I usually nap the first day I land but from what I've read, we have a nice, packed itinerary (which I'm not complainig about haha). I'll probably be too filled with excitement to think about how sleep deprived I'll be because sleeping on planes and going over the ocean don't necessarily mix well. I hope to meet fresh, fun, bright faces who are all also excited to be on the trip!

Preparation and language

If somebody wants to know me right off the bat, I could just say I'm a big procrastinator. From school to outside activities, I generally leave things for the last minute because I know I'm capable of getting them done in the last minute. For this trip, like no surprise, I started packing the day before I was supposed to leave (so today haha...). When we first got the list of what to bring, I knew I was set and that all I had to do was take the time to make everything fit inside of my suitcase. Packing pretty lightly, I got everything in my luggage and made a last minute trip to the store to buy closed toed water shoes. My mom was noticeably more stressed than I was all of today but I'm just chilling because it's summer and I'm going to Spain tomorrow!!!! This past week was filled with finals so I'm glad to just be done with school for 3 months. In terms of my Spanish, I definitely slacked on doing daily exercises on the langauge app I downloaded on my phone but I think I'll be able to manage. I think being in a Spanish speaking country will refresh the two years of Spanish I did in the beginning of high school. 

Until next time,

Jan Filip Alfaro (-: