Packing and Moving to my First Apartment - in Spain

Moving out of your childhood home is a rite of passage that stirs up a lot of memories. You find things in your room that you forgot you had and things you haven't thought about in years: a late childhood pet's collar, old school projects, birthday cards from friends and family. I always pictured the day I moved out including a moving van and talk of visiting on the weekends or holidays, but instead I will have a plane, train, and farewells for at least nine months. I have not yet seen my new (very first) apartment. This is such a strange concept to me as I fold and squeeze things into my suitcase - I don't exactly know what I will need or what I am preparing for. Usually when people move they at least have been to the place they are going to be living. I have only read books and watched videos about my new home (albeit a ton of reading and watching.)  CIEE has of course been very helpful in preparing me, but I still have never BEEN to Spain and now I am MOVING there. - as in paying rent and buying towels for my bathroom. For someone who has never lived outside the Midwest and is going to make a new home in a new landscape, climate, culture, and speak a new language, it all feels so wonderfully and frightfully surreal. My heart sings and wants to crawl inside of a hole and hide at the same time.

 I also do not know where my life will take me after my contract with my school in Almeria is finished. Whether or not I return to Springfield, Missouri I know that an era in my life is ending. I will not be able to pick back up exactly where I left off. My time in Andalucia will be a new chapter in my life and I am so excited to turn the page, even if it means I can't reread the last one. Life is about moving forward. However, as I prepare to say some bittersweet goodbyes to dear friends and family, I know that I will see them again and that our separation will not be as long as it seems. Time flies by so quickly. So, for now I must travel to Andalucia, the place I have dreamt of since I was fourteen. Adventure is calling.