Another New Place

Well I'm finally home in Bandera, TX and have internet access for the night so I'm taking the chance to write my blog while I can. I've been in Vinton, LA all this summer and the only internet I've been able to get on has been pretty sketchy.Most of my summer, so far, has been spent working for my dad and for a veterinarian at Delta Downs and shadowing at a big equine clinic in Vinton. I want to be a large animal veterinarian (hopefully equine) and have been working on my "experience hours" so far this summer.

I am so excited about going to Germany. Honestly, I'm probably more excited about the nicer weather than anything. It's definitely going to be a huge break from the hellish heat in humidity that I've gotten used to in Vinton. At least in Bandera it's dry heat and it actually cools off some at night. I'm not really sure yet if I'm going to get to Germany and absolutely love the weather or freeze my butt off.

When I first found out that I was going to be going on this trip for sure, I figured that I'd be most nervous about going to a completely new place on my own, where I didn't really know anyone. If it wasn't for this study abroad opportunity, I don't think I'd have convinced myself to go at all. I guess that just goes to show how much I've changed in the past few years. When I first graduated high school, I never would have thought that I would even consider going on some sort of trip like this. I was one of the most shy and quiet people you could ever meet. I'm still pretty quiet, actually, but I've gotten better. I guess I've just picked up and moved to enough new environments that It doesn't really bother me anymore.

Right now, the thing that I'm most nervous about is getting my bag checked and getting on the plane. I'm not too worried about figuring everything out once I get over there though. I've only been on a couple planes in my life and they've both been short flights where I didn't have to worry about getting my bag checked. And not only will this be my first long flight but it will be the first time I've ever been out of the country. I'm probably just over-worrying myself about this though. I'll probably be at the airport around noon or early afternoon because that's the only time my dad can drop me off. He has to get back to Vinton because he has horses to run that night (he's a race horse trainer if I hadn't mentioned that before) so we're going to drive to Houston after he finished tracking horses in the morning so he can get back in time.

I'm also sort of nervous about speaking German. I've been spending most of my summer, thus far, working on my Spanish and cajun French than studying German.

I got an email from my "host mum" today and she seems pretty awesome. She's a quarter Ecuadoran (I probably spelled that wrong), a quarter Italian, and half English. And her brother runs an Irish pub. If I can't manage to expose myself to some new culture then I've got issues. It's probably going to be a complete turnaround from living in smalltown Louisiana and spending most of my time on the race track like I have been for the past month and a half. It's so exciting!!! I can't wait to head off on this new adventure and see what all I learn.