Back at Bucknell, I am quite involved on campus. I am a brother of the Chi Phi Fraternity, where I was philanthropy chair this past semester. I am also the former news editor of The Bucknellian and currently taking a hiatus from being an advertising manager for the paper. I hope to continue writing and selling ads in the future.

I am excited to be heading to Granada. I have been taking Spanish classes since sixth grade and I am finally ready to use and to expand my language skills. I am a bit nervous since I have not taken a Spanish course since last spring. I hope my Spanish is a bit better than that of the Taco Bell dog.

Since this is my first entry, I should probably make some goals to accomplish while I am abroad so I have some quantitative summary of my experiences at the end of the semester.

In no particular order:
1) Become fluent in Spanish.
I am living in a non-English speaking country for 20 weeks and have studied the language for years; I had really better be able to pick most of it up.
2) Be able to roll my Rs. (If you don't know what I mean, watch some more Telemundo)
I cannot do it at all. I think it would be a nice party trick to show my friends when I get back home. Oh, and it is useful in the Spanish language.
3) See Europe.
Yes, technically, by being in Spain, every time I open my window I'll be seeing Europe, but I would like to travel the continent as much as I can. I have been to England twice. So that, coupled with the terrible exchange rate, has England lower on my list of places to see. I'd love to go to Italy, France, Germany, and Morocco (Yes, that is Africa. Still, I want to go to there, too.)
4) Meet new people and experience new things.
I'll be in a foreign country so I am sure to do these.
5) Pass my classes.
Optional.

As for this blog, I hope to update at least once a week. My goal is to provide you readers with an inside scoop of studying abroad. I have a great digital camera and I plan on using it to take hundreds of photos. I am also going take video of things that I come across and embed them in the blog, giving you an even better sense of my experience. I hope most my entries will be under 500 words, too, so I don't bore you all to death. Oh and please excuse my bad puns and jokes, I doubt they are half as funny as they are in my head.

Oh and please leave comments and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you all.