The Countdown

I leave for Madrid seven short weeks from today, and I can hardly believe it. I still feel unprepared. Part of the problem is that I don't have my passport yet. Yikes! Really hoping that comes SOON. The other main thing is that I'm waiting to hear about my housing situation. The school I'll be attending has helped arrange accommodation for me for August, but it costs 450 Euro for the month (OUCH!). The other possibility is that a friend of a friend lives in Madrid with her husband and children, and they're going out of town for the month of August and want someone to stay at their house. I've never met these people before, but they're willing to consider me. The problem is that the friend of a friend asked someone else to housesit before she knew about me, and she hasn't heard back from him yet, so at this point I have no idea whether I'll be paying 450 Euro or staying somewhere for free. Obviously I would much prefer free.

I bought a little Moleskine Madrid book at Powell's the other day. It's part of their new line of little guidebooks: it has metro maps, city maps, a street index, and plenty of pages for me to write in my favorite spots and record experiences I want to remember. The book is super portable (small & light). Anyway, I was playing with it a couple nights ago and fantasizing about losing it somewhere and having it returned to me by the man of my dreams. Very unlikely, I know, but that's the point of fantasy. =*)

Although I'm a bit incredulous about how few weeks I have left in the States, I'm also very excited about my adventure: REAL cafe con leche, eating queso manchego and jamon serrano every day...YUM YUM YUM!!! (Odd, isn't it, that the first thing that springs to mind is food? And that the first thing I missed about the U.S. when I went to Spain the first time was Taco Bell?) Of course also very much looking forward to the art and architecture...I intend to take full advantage of the free admission to museums on Sunday mornings. But mostly I'm looking forward to reconnecting with myself. I somehow feel I've gotten away from myself in these last seven or eight months. I haven't spent enough time exploring and reflecting, I guess. But there's also something about being in Spain that helps bring me back into sharp focus. My layers of culture are much easier to see over there, and therefore easier to peel back to peek at what's underneath. And over there, no one knows me. No one expects me to be a certain way or a certain person. Free of other people's expectations, I can reinvent myself once again. I'm free to explore other sides of my personality. To once again test my limits and abilities. To develop new strengths and find new vulnerabilities. I suppose that would be a nightmare for some, but I find the possibilities thrilling.