Holy cow! I can't believe that in less than a week I will be in Guadalajara, Mexico, home of Mariachi bands, tequila, and the Mexican hat dance. By this time next Saturday I will have met my host mother and probably my roommate. I will have started my nearly four-month stint speaking exclusively in Spanish. And I will probably be exhausted since my plane leaves Seattle at 8:15 am.

I've been spending these last few weeks learning about my new city (did you know that Guadalajara is almost a mile above sea level?) and trying to brush up on my Spanish skills. The day after I arrive I will have to take a placement test and I'm kinda worried about that. That will determine what classes I can take, which will essentially determine if I will be able to graduate at the end of this year as planned.

I'm going to be working a lot this week, but when I'm not, I'll be trying to pack up my life into one large suitcase and shove the rest into boxes for my parents to take home and store. I'll also be running around trying to get my financial aid, bank stuff, housing arrangements, and final study abroad paperwork settled. And of course I'll make time to hang out with my friends a little bit more before I take off.

I'll try to keep this thing updated but I have no idea how often I'll get to use a computer. And I might have trouble typing since the keyboards down there are a bit different. I guess we'll have to wait and see!