A few weeks away.

Today I got a bunch of stuff in the mail about Spain.

I found out where I'm living. Right in the middle of the city in the Barri Gótic (Gothic Quarter). The owner, Anna, is a designer. I'm not sure what she designs yet. She has a dog. There is one other exchange student living there, but I have my own room. The residence is in a building that's part of a plaza...Plaça Sant Josep Oriol. It's really close to Las Ramblas, the main tourist street in Barcelona. It's a 20 minute walk to school. The Barri Gótic is a medieval neighborhood...one of the oldest parts of the city. I'm SO excited. I keep looking at pictures.

I found out I'm going to Paris in November for a few days. We're also taking trips to some nearby towns...one being Montserrat, this monastery located on some intense cliffs. And a trip to a national park in the mountains. I have been trying to decide where I want to try to travel outside of the program. I'm thinking: Southern France, all over Spain, west coast of Portugal, Morocco, England. I don't think I can do it all, but I want to try. I'm tempted to try northern Italy, since I'm only going south when I'm there with my dad.

There's going to be so much to learn and to see. I have these goals...like I should learn to take nice pictures (improve my photography skills) and exercise, like running on the beach. I am also slightly tempted to try to get some color on my skin for the first time in my life. I've always opposed tanning, but I want to spend a lot of time at the beach. I think it's pretty close to where I'll be living. I also want to buy fresh fruit from a market every day. Oh yeah, and it would be nice if I could learn to speak Spanish.