“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever on the road.”

Nothing like a cliché Jack Kerouac quote to get any journey started, am I right? But in all seriousness, this is a great line, capturing the excitement, uncertainty and strange peace that comes with a life of travel. It’s hard to believe that in four days, I’ll be shipping back to España (the alternate motherland).

Life is strange, isn’t it? While I had always dreamed of leaving the country after graduation, I wasn’t quite sure about the how/when/why part. I certainly would never have guessed that I’d be moving to Spain, a country that I knew virtually nothing about just three short years ago. But that’s how these things work I guess. Girl goes to Spain, falls in love with the language, comes back and double majors.

It’s going to be different this time, and I honestly have no idea what to expect. My rose-colored study abroad glasses are long gone, so when I land in Barajas it’s just going to be me and Spain, staring at each other eye to eye.

We’ll see if I have what it takes, to make every experience count, to keep learning, to seek that ambiguous but cool-sounding “international life.” If I start to sound insufferably pretentious, then I’ll know that I’ve just joined the legions of twentysomethings who are taking a “gap year” to stave off responsibility and decision-making.

Maybe I’m still doing some of that, but this isn’t a gap year… this is the first year of the rest of my life.

🙂 Stay tuned! There are many adventures to be had, many jokes to be told and I promise much fewer platitudes.