The Great Path Finder

Whenever any member of my immediate family: dad, mom, brother and sister, go to a new place, we like to strike the pose that we have dubbed “The Great Path Finder”. “The Great Path Finder” pose is reminiscent of a still shot off a sixties disco dance-off, with one arm akimbo and the other pointed off in at a forty-five degree angle to some glorious unknown. The pose has become a personification of my last week or so in central Illinois. Just as one holds the pose for the picture to be taken (it’s a family thing) my life has taken on those qualities. Time has slowed in Illinois as my friends and family return to school but I am still here until the day I head for Spain to seek new paths-linguistically, culturally, gastronimically and geographically. I am heading to Sevilla, Spain, located in the southern region of Spain, called Andalucia, for ten months. Ten months to explore a city where Jewish, Muslim, and Christian influences clashed and mingled, a city that houses the legend of the infamous seducer Don Juan, a city that showcases the art of bull-fighting and flamenco…to name a few. I want to explore these monuments that give Sevilla such a rich and beautiful history, but I do not want them to steer me from my own path, a path to find my own comfort and knowledge of a city that is to be my home for ten months. I keep repeating that to myself, ten months. I should be more nervous than I am, moving to Spain for ten months. I know I am going to struggle with my Spanish at first, I know I will experience culture shock, doubt my reasons for coming and experience a whole round of tumultuous feelings, but still I maintain this assurance that a lot, not everything, is going to work out. As my last week in Bloomington ticks by, relishing moments with my family, saying good-byes to old friends and generally haunting the library for new books, the only real fear I have is….How am going to get all my shoes to Spain?