First of all, let's start with the introductions!
My name is Jessa, and I, along with my boyfriend, Patrick, will be moving to Spain this September! Patrick and I have been together for about 10 months now, but let me tell you, the decision to move to Spain together was not an easy one.
I knew I wanted to apply for this job as a Language and Culture Assistant in Spain before I even met Patrick back in October (I knew I lucked out when I found out he wanted to take some time off after graduating to travel!). A couple months into dating, I applied for the program. We had casually thrown around the idea that if I was accepted, he would come with me so we could travel together as a couple, but nothing was ever set in stone. After finding out in March that I had gotten the job, we couldn't have been happier. The momentary euphoria of getting a job in another country pushed out any thoughts that we might not take on this adventure together. About a month and a half later, Patrick got an interview with ADP, and ended up getting the job (he's pretty amazing!). At that point, he had about a week to decide between coming to Spain with me or taking this job offer (while I moved far, far away). It was a week filled with anxiety for him (and many tears for me) as he contemplated what to do. In the end, he decided that he was going to turn down the job so we could move to Spain together!! I was BEYOND excited that we were going to take this journey on together. After informing our families of this decision, all we could do for days was talk about all of our plans together, the countries we would visit, things we would see, etc.
At that point, we had about 4 months until we would leave for Spain. Since then, Patrick and I both graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, moved into an apartment together, and have spent the summer visiting family and friends and trying to put plans into place for our big move.
Time has flown by way too fast, and I just realized today that we leave in a mere FOUR WEEKS! The thought of that excites me, but scares me at the same time. I think it really snuck up on both Patrick and I very fast, and we recently realized how much we want/have to do before we leave. Here's a breakdown of our '"fun" plans for the next few weeks:
- Finish up working at our jobs
- Move out of our apartment
- Spend time with family and friends at our Going Away Party
- Go to the Minnesota State Fair (and try A LOT of various foods-on-a-stick)
- Spend some time in Chicago while we're there to pick up my visa
- Make it up to Big Sandy Lake one more time
- RELAX!
And here is a list of some of the things we HAVE to do in the next few weeks:
- Figure out how we're getting from Madrid to Merida
- Book a hostel to stay in while we look for a place to live
- Figure out phone/bank plans
- Make a packing list (then proceed to pack, take out what we don't really need, repack, repeat...)
- Say goodbye to our families and friends :(
With as many things as we have to get done, these next 4 weeks are really going to fly by! As sad as we are to leave behind our family and friends, we are very excited to begin a new and exciting chapter!
