I must be crazy...

for leaving the United States.

I'll set it up the way that it's been going around and around in my head as my departure draws near.

I'm close to my family, and I love spending time with them. I lived in a good apartment with great people. I have great friends. I belong to a community, and I love my home town. I had a good job offer, with benefits, doing something I really enjoy. I'm pretty sure I know what I want to study in grad school and what I want to do with that degree.

So I must be crazy if I'm willing to sacrifice all that to move half way around the country where I have no friends, no home, no connections, and no idea what the culture is going to be like. I have a job (thank heavens) but that's about it.

So why am I going? Why is it worth it? That's the question I've been trying to answer for the last few months, answer with something more definite then, 'it feels like I should.' So, I present to you the top three reasons for going abroad (for me anyway):

1. To get out of my comfort zone- This is huge for me. As I've just said, I'm comfortable in my life right now. But maybe too comfortable? New experiences, new challenges, they're important. I think if I stay comfortable I won't grow as a person. I might become stagnant. And that is quite possibly more terrifying than living in Spain.

2. Travel!- A little self-centered, maybe, but I want to see what Europe has to offer. I want to see buildings older than 200 years. I want to see famous churches and stand in castles (and who doesn't want to stand in a castle?). And now is probably the best time in my life to do that.

3. To meet new people- Sometimes I pause and ponder the fact that people in different cultures, raised in different places, are in fact people like me. Perhaps that sounds pretty obvious to most, but it still perplexes me. I'm looking forward to the chance to get to know people in a different culture, leading different lives, but ultimately looking for the same basic needs in life, love and family.

Well, that's what I've got for now. I'll be leaving for Spain in eight days (yikes) and I'm sure I'll have more interesting posts then.