Another form of social media to add to my collection: a blog. I got the idea from a few others whose blogs I read while they were abroad. This is mostly for my parents and family and my friends who are bored in class and have no more facebook stalking to do and decide to entertain themselves with this as a last resort. For those of you who knew I was starting a blog you probably knew that I was stressed out about finding a clever name for it. I don't really know if its proper blog etiquette to have the web address and the title be the same but that's just how it is folks. Also I know there's not two l's in "girl" but the title with one l was already taken so take it or leave it.

So why did I choose the most cliche lyrics out of Tom Petty's collection? 1) because Tom Petty is the soundtrack to my life and I'm proud of it and 2) when I think about myself traveling abroad I have come to the sad reality that I will probably stick out like a sore thumb as an American college student. In my 20 years of existence I have traveled outside of the good ol' US of A a combined total of 8 days. Needless to say I have virtually no experience abroad and zero experience abroad on my own. I will be studying in Granada, Spain for the next four months and can only hope that this experience will teach me things that the halls of Medford High or the streets of New Orleans have not.

Although I am incredibly excited to get my European adventures underway, I would be lying if I said I wasn't going to miss summer. This summer was one with many lessons learned, new friends made, and great times had with old friends. Though almost all of us worked close to 70 hours a week, we definitely made time for play. I think I trained myself pretty well for the late nights in Europe with the amount of time I walked home from Kelly J and Kelly A's at 5 in the morning only to get up at 8 am to go work 14 hours straight. I got to see lots of Tulane friends and even got in a trip to New Orleans before I left as well. So all in all a successful summer.

team Europe in pseudo American revolution at olympics party

Tonight I leave for Espana and tomorrow morning I will be there embracing Ella in the Barcelona airport. Her friend Susie is nice enough to pick us up at the airport and let us stay at her house which is incredible. We'll be in Barcelona for a few days going to the beach and apparently going clubbing. I know the thought of me in a club makes a lot of people laugh but we'll see if my new alter ego eurojill can hang with the crazy Spaniards. I got a little practice this summer hanging with the Romanians that work in my restaurant and honestly its a little frightening. We'll see if I can keep up. Speaking of keeping up, my spanish is pretty rusty so that will also be an interesting adjustment. Necesito practicar mi espanol. Thats about all I got right now. 

I can't promise I will be diligent about this but hopefully I can be moderately entertaining and possibly even funny at times. Hopefully there will be a noticeable transition from ignorant American college student to slightly more cultured American college student. Theres a fine line between cultured and pompous douche so hopefully I can see it cause I know if I come back and say stuff like "well when I was in Europe they did this...." Ali and Jamie will not let me hear the end of it. Should be an interesting journey. If I stop writing in this all together, Dad channel your inner Liam Neeson and head over. (JK Dad I'll be safe).

Adios hombres hasta luego