Summer's Beginning

Today's been a significant day. It was first full day back from a weekend up north with my cousins. The weekend was awesome, it was the first time that my cousins' family, my whole family, and everyone's girlfriends have all been together. It was really special. Weekends like this one are what I live for. I think the next time that whole group will be together will be at someone's wedding.

The few weeks leading up to vacation were up and down between awesome and fine. Going from finals week to boyfriend time to a breakup and then to the sudden lack of responsibility that came with the first weeks of summer was a little bit hard. I start to go a crazy when I have nothing productive to do. It makes me want to do nothing. It's really just a dangerous, unfulfilling positive feedback loop. When my work schedule picked up, it did wonders for my sanity. Work's been really enjoyable and fulfilling. I'm lucky to have a job to come home to every summer. It's been enjoyable to be busy again, reconnect with my work friends, and make money for the first time since last summer. It's also worth mentioning that I got a promotion! In a nutshell, I'll be making a bit more money, probably getting more hours, and I now get to make my schedule. That's been another highlight to being back at work.

I seem to have balanced work, exercise, and leisure time in a way that makes me happy. Finding that balance usually takes me some time. It's something I need to do every new quarter when I'm away at school, and it's certainly something I'll have to do when I'm in Spain next year.

That brings me to why today was significant. I bought my plane ticket to Spain today! For fear of jinxing anything, I never like to count my chickens before they hatch. That being said, it's never been more official that I'll be spending the coming school year in Spain. I've been accepted to the University of Granada, made the first payment for the program, gotten my Spanish student visa, gotten some scholarship money (thank you!) on the basis that I'll be staying in Granada for a year, and I now have my plane ticket. I'm thinking it's going to happen!

There's lots of big stuff coming my way, stuff I know I can handle. I need to take my current state of happiness, protect it, and hang onto it through whatever my new adventures bring me. Some of the most rewarding experiences of my life have involved some difficulty at a point, but pushing through the difficulty pays off in huge, life-changing ways. This experience calls me. Studying abroad is really something I've been preparing for since my freshman year in high school, even if I didn't always know it. Ten Spanish classes later, I'm ready to go learn the language in a way that'll stick and help me put it to use.

I'm looking forward to the adventures that await! In the meantime, I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the summer at home and enjoying family time here. I think it's going to be a wonderful rest of the summer.