January 11, 2010

I have created this blog with the purpose of sharing my experiences with my friends and family back home while I travel across Spain and Western Europe. Honestly, I am no good at writing, so don't expect any staggering works of genius. And I won't always have access to a computer, so my posts will probably be infrequent. Originally I was just going to get a Flikr account and post some photos now and then, but I thought this might be more fun, and might encourage me to reflect more deeply upon my travels. I depart from my home of Portland, Oregon to Barcelona, Spain two weeks from today. I have a return ticket for June 1 but I have recently decided that this probably will not be enough time and I may stay an extra month or so, depending on my financial situation.
I decided when I was fourteen that as soon as I was free from high school I would get as far away from home as possible for atleast a few months and it would be a radical and life changing experience. I got a job and started saving my paychecks, and last spring I graduated a year early. I'm not running away from anything. I actually love Oregon, and I love my friends and my family (I even sort of liked my high school.) I just know that I cannot be satisfied until I have seen a good sized chunk of the world.
So here I go.
My biggest fear is that I will come home having accomplished nothing. Feeling no sense of change or enlightenment. I figure I ought to set a few goals for myself so that I do not end up wandering aimlessly (although wandering isn't always so bad.)
Some goals:
1. Learn Spanish
2. Work on a WWOOF farm and learn a bit about agriculture/permaculture.
3. See a Dali painting
4. Leave my mark (specifically in the form of spray paint and marker)
5. Make a friend

I plan to spend a few weeks exploring Barcelona and hopefully taking language classes when I first arrive. At some point I will head up to Amsterdam to visit my good friend, Max, who is studying abroad there. I also need to visit Anna and Cere in Logrono. And I will probably stay the last two months in the south around Granada (where it will be warm!)
I think that's enough blogging for now.
Thanks for reading!