Goals

Upon reading countless travel sites, blogs and pamphlets, I've found nearly all of them recommend setting goals before you travel. Part of me thinks this seems kind of silly, but I suppose it couldn't hurt, so I've been thinking of some general goals I want to achieve while abroad.

Live More Retro:

One of the main reasons I've chosen to go to Spain is to do something different. I'm not going so that I can text all day, or surf facebook for hours on end. I don't want to get trapped in the "RV" mindset - experiencing new things, but always within a few feet of WiFi or a cozy recliner. No, I feel that being sucked into a screen the whole time would hinder me from experiencing as much as I can [says the blogger via wireless laptop]. I won't be ditching all forms of electronic communication, I'll talk to friends from home with Skype - a pretty useful [and free] video chat service. My internet access will be pretty limited, though, which is probably for the better. The biggest way in which I'll be living retro is the fact that I'm not going to have a cell phone. Eventually, as I make friends in Madrid, I'll likely buy a prepaid phone for local calls, but the need for an international phone is far outweighed by its rates - oh and the whole 6 hour time difference.

Find Questions, Not Answers:

While many people embark on adventures in pursuit of answering questions they may never find answers to, I'll be doing nearly the exact opposite. I don't want to experience an entirely new culture to reinforce my understanding of the world, I want it to blow my mind. As inquisitive and open-minded as I am, I know there are millions of other things I've never even thought about. I plan on exploring these things, however minute [such as the social dynamics of the whole kiss-and-greet thing] until I have a greater sense of how much there really is to think about. I want to come back from this trip more inquisitive and less sure about anything than I've ever been in my entire life. After all, how sure can you be that you know your place in the world, if you've never even seen it?

Become A Global Citizen:

I'm not sure how attainable this goal really is, because everyone has a home somewhere, but I suppose being a global citizen means not being in one place for too long. Although there is definitely something to be said about people who have never left their hometown, I feel that people should spend some time away from the familiar. I love my country, but I need to take some time away from the states for awhile, and this is the perfect opportunity.

Get Closer To My Family:

As I'll be staying with my "cousin" [more on that later], I'll no doubt be learning more about my heritage. As a third-generation Spanish American, I've had so much of my family's history lost to assimilation. I hope to attain a better knowledge of where we come from, and a greater understanding of who my family really was. Stateside, I also hope to miss my family enough to really appreciate who I live with, and discover feelings 
that may go overlooked in the day-to-day life of Northern Virginia.

Become More Humble:
Kind of in line with the whole family thing, I hope to better appreciate the things at home that I take for granted. I hope that my time away from the E.E.U.U. [that's U.S.A. for us Americans] will make me realize how privileged I am that I can even take a trip like this. I aim to recognize all the things that I usually just ignore, and I hope to sort of detach myself from things that seem so important [like the whole facebook thing].

Be Proved Wrong:

The one thing that I absolutely do not want to come of my trip, is for me to walk away knowing everything happened exactly as I thought it would. I'm expecting the unexpected, here. If I could predict my entire trip, it wouldn't be worth taking. If I end up looking back on this list of goals and laughing at every single one of them, then ultimately, I've met the most important one of all.

Hasta luego,

Brian