The Eve of Departure, Yikes!

I'm sitting here on my bed in my room at home in Palo Alto, CA wondering what I'm getting myself into. I know this is going to be an amazing experience but I can't help feeling unprepared. Am I just throwing myself into a situation I can't handle?

I'm going to be studying abroad in Guadalajara, Mexico for Spring Semester 2010. I leave on Saturday (the 9th) and my program ends on May 1. For those four months I'll be taking Spanish language classes along with Mexican Culture and Mexican History, living with a host family, exploring Guadalajara/Mexico, making new friends, and all that good stuff.

I'm excited and scared about living with a host family. I can't wait to meet them! Cassandra (my city director) told me a little more about them today, which is good because before all I knew was their address. Sra. Tere, my host mother, has three children much older than me and a dog. I got really excited when I found out I was going to have a host dog. Like, really excited.

I'm also really excited about the field trips I'll be going on with the other people in my program. I know we're going to Agua Caliente (hot water springs just outside of Guadalajara), Tequila (guess what they make there...), and a whale watching trip.

My hopes for my study abroad experience:
~Learn a lot more Spanish, even get good at it, dare I say fluent? No I don't.
~Make some really good friends.
~Get along really well with my host family.
~Make it to the beach.
~Make it to the lake.
~Make it to a big, noisy outdoor market.
~Have some sort of epiphany about what I want to do with the rest of my time in school.
~Have some sort of epiphany about what I want to do with my life after school (that might be a bit ambitious but I figured I'd put it in there anyway :)