Hi all!

Whether you’re a newcomer to this blog, a member of my family, or a friend, I thank you for joining me on the first of many installments to this Geoblog.  You’ve caught me during a week of frantic packing, obsessively translating everything that I read from English to Spanish, and convincing myself that this trip is actually happening.  My thoughts here are more scattered than I would have liked, but hopefully they will give you a taste of this crazy, overwhelming experience that I am about to have.  (Maybe I’m just crazy.  But you can decide for yourself.)

For those who don’t know me, my name is Anna Lombardo and I study English at Penn State University, where I am also pursuing a minor in business.  This spring I will be participating in a CIEE study abroad program called International Business and Culture, in Seville, Spain, where I will be taking business classes as well as some yet undecided culture courses.  I chose this program for a few different reasons.  First, and most importantly, it will be warm.  If you go to Penn State or ever went to Penn State, you know that the winter (we all know I mean November through April) is abhorrent.  Abhorrent: that is the best word I can think of to describe the bitterly cold and snow-heavy months during which the majority of Penn State classes take place.  I like to tell people that I am never emotionally prepared for the upcoming cold season and it is always true.  So I anticipate that a semester in the south of Spain will be an emotional healing of sorts.

While I am not joking about the alluring warmth of Seville, there are other factors that had a greater influence on my decision to study there than just the climate.  For one thing, it will give me the opportunity to make some real progress on my business minor.  I also hope it will allow me to become close to fluent in Spanish, despite my three-year hiatus from the language (regretfully, I have not taken Spanish classes since high school).  And, of course, I could not pass up the opportunity to spend four months in one of the most gorgeous and culturally rich cities in the world.  I’m happy to be able to share all of the wonderful experiences I have over there with you, my readers.

All of the awesome things that come with this trip are, unfortunately, accompanied by some sad realities.  In the last day or so I’ve teared up occasionally thinking about some of the things I’ll be missing while I’m away: my family, my friends.  (Those are the big ones.)  I won’t get to be with my sister the night of her senior prom; I won’t get to celebrate my 21st birthday with my friends.  For those of you considering studying abroad someday, I hate to put a damper on the experience before I’ve even left.  It is very difficult to put yourself in a situation that you know will probably be amazing but is unfamiliar and uncomfortable at first.  I hope, by the end of this blog, I will be reporting to you that my time in Spain was well worth the initial discomfort.

I am, despite the melancholy character of the previous paragraph, actually looking forward to going to Seville.  Among some of the highlights I hope to write about: staying with a Sevillian family and eating most of my meals with them; taking a 4-day trip to Morocco; and for all of my food lovers out there, tapas (basically Spanish snacks to the MAX).  You won’t want to miss it, so check back soon (once my jetlag has dissipated)!

Location: King of Prussia, Pennsylvania