I've been emailing back and forth with my host family a little bit, and I've learned some more about them from that.

My mom and dad's names are Marta and Alfonso. They have a small company, where they both work as geographers and urban planners. They work on projects dealing with city planning, and social participation in urban areas. On the side, Marta is also writing a book on safe routes for kids to get to school, and Alfonso works as a photography director. When she was my age, Marta studied abroad here in the U.S. with AFS, and ended up in St. Louis. I think it will be nice to have someone in the family who knows how I feel when I'm trying to adapt to the new culture.

Also, it turns out I have a second sister. Her name's Sara, she's 27, and the reason I didn't know about her is because she's moved out. Although Marta says that since she has an apartment close by, they see her almost every day.

The sister I did know about is named Berta. I just gained a sister (Sara), but there's now a possibility that I'll be losing one too. If everything works out for her, Berta will be here in the U.S. next year while I'm there, because she wants to study abroad too.

My brother's name is Mateo, and I hear he's very excited to have a brother, and someone in the house that cares about soccer.

Marta tells me that they all enjoy music, socializing, traveling, cooking, and spending time as a family- all things I like to do as well. So, all in all I think I'll fit into their family pretty easily.

So here it is. This is my new blog I just created, and it will be the best way for everyone to stay up to date on my life next year while I'm away studying abroad in Spain.

I just received the news a few days ago that I've been officially accepted into the AFS-Spain student exchange program, and that they've found me a host family.

My host family lives in the center of Madrid. I will have a mom and a dad, a sister one year younger than me almost to the day (15), and a brother Logan's age (11). I just contacted them for the first time today, and I'm very excited to get to know them.

The experience will last for about 10 months. I will depart on September 4, 2010, and return July 1, 2011.

I have a six hour orientation tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes...

Until next time,
Jake.