Sitting here two nights before heading out to Spain, I think it’s finally hit me that I am going to be gone for nearly 9 months except for the few days before I head out to India. For the most part, I’ve had a pretty relaxing Christmas break and maybe that’s why I didn’t really realize I was going anywhere until I had to start packing. Highlights from my break include going to Marlon’s house to chill with Sid and Amithab, problems getting my India visa in DC, studying Hindi, reading Da Vinci Code, trying to figure out housing for next fall, and getting to hang out with the family.

Family Picture Taken Over Break

I feel extremely fortunate to have these opportunities to go abroad and I know that they’ll impact me tremendously. In Sevilla, I will be studying abroad even though I’m not quite sure what classes I’m taking yet. I am hoping to improve my Spanish at least to the point where I am not too shy to speak and also I want to assimilate into the culture during the five months that I’m there. We are required to participate in a home stay so hopefully that will force me even more to speak Spanish. Also, we don’t have classes on Friday’s and not to mention the two week long breaks in April, so I’ll get a chance to travel a little bit.

On a completely different note, during the summer in India, I plan on doing some service work while visiting different states. I’ve known ever since I was a child that I wanted to be involved with health care and I hope to incorporate a global public health aspect to this. So hopefully this opportunity will open my eyes to different avenues for future decisions. Also, I took two semesters of Hindi my freshman year and I never got a chance to use any of it besides in the classroom and the occasional Hindi movies that I would try to watch. I will finally get a chance to try to use some of what I learned and improve upon it. Maybe one day I can watch these Hindi movies without focusing all of my attention on the subtitles.

Anyways, at times I kind of feel like I am just picking up my bags and leaving everything behind; my family, my friends, student organizations that I’m part of, etc. I guess time will fly and hopefully I won’t be too out of the loop when I get back for my senior year! I guess that is one of the reasons I signed up for Facebook and this blog so I can try to keep in touch with people. I’ll try to update every once in a while with pictures and for those of you who want, e-mail me your address at achen85@email.unc.edu and I’ll try to send you a postcard! Keep in touch and I’ll see everybody in the fall.

Me, Adi, Marlon, and Sid