blogging one year too late...

I've never been one to admit that I was wrong or have regrets. But boy oh boy. If only I took the time to write a blog when I spent 5 months having the adventure of a lifetime studying abroad in Spain. I only knew a few kids keeping up with a blog and it seemed like it was homework for them. But, what I wouldn't give to be able to look back and follow my experience through a blog. Traveling all over Europe, even to Africa, with some of the most amazing friends was definitely worthy of documenting. Even my mom has a blog about her time in Spain which was only a week! Now that over a year has passed and I've finally decided that starting a blog is necessary.

Necessary indeed. I have 82 days left as a college kid! This is absurd. Today is the 4 year anniversary of my overnight at Babson as a senior in H.S. (Happy Anniversary Claudia!) I remember it vividly and returned back to THS for basketball practice, I told everyone I knew I was meant to go to this college.

Eighty Two days left of college. Not to mention, the fact that running track simply increases the speed of life. People question why I'm running track as an employed, second semester, graduating senior. What they don't see is that this is the first time in my life I can do something that isn't for the resume or to get a step ahead, and its solely for me! I'm finding this to be more motivational than ever. Track is simply fun this season. Granted, I'm injury free at the moment (knock on wood) so that always makes running more enjoyable. But ultimately, running is great to clear the mind. And I can't take the ability to go outside from 3pm to 5pm for granted ever again since soon those hours will be spent behind a computer screen.

So maybe in retrospect, my time spent in Spain in which I was not "blogging" behind my computer screen was well spent? Granada was such an eye opening experience. It slowed the pace of life down. Here I am, preoccupied over how fast these 82 days will go. And a year ago, that was the farthest of my worries. I would wake up and have nothing on my agenda but to go explore something new about the city of Granada, or even learn some more Spanish simply by striking up a conversation. I would go wander through the trails behind La Alhambra and not have a care in the world how long it took. Everyone needs an experience like this. Babson teaches us how to manage stress. What they fail to teach us is how to embrace boredom and entertain ourselves. That is why we are constantly on email, cellphones (rarely ever used one in Spain), facebook, you get the jist. You reorganize your priorities when exposed to how another culture lives.

Okay, maybe I don't mind so much that I didn't blog my time in Spain. I do have an incredible memory (& thousands of pictures to accompany it). And our newfound obsession in this world with surrendering our privacy and let others get sneak peeks in our lives is essentially what a blog allows. And that, I can live without. So the intention of my blog is for others to learn from as I live these last 82 days of college to the absolute fullest.