¿Aventuras? ¡No me gustan nada! (Aventures? Don't like them at all!)

It was worst when I was still a child. During puberty it didn't really get any better. As a young adult things started changing and now I can say I can handle it. What am I talking about? The unknown!

New things have always freaked me out. As a baby I didn't dare to sit upright once I was awake, nor clime out of bed as a toddler. As a child I didn't dare to pick up a ringing phone. I was always stressed out (and thus sick) on the first day of school after the summer break. I didn't want to go to camp and when I did my parents had to come pick me up a few days later because I was lying in bed sick, homesick. As a teenagers I was scared to enter shops I hadn't been in before. I never took any form of public transport. I refused to do a vacation job. I didn't go out on weekends until my mom forced me. The first six months at uni where horrific. Never had I been away from home for more than say, 8 hours. So yes, it was a real problem.

Once I started making a couple of friends at uni (also a rather new experience to me) and met my partner, things got better, bit by bit. I was forced to get out of my dorm because subjects were taught in several different buildings all around town, whereas the school I went to until I was 17 was literally next door. I wouldn't say I was carefree, but at least I had people to share my fears with. Now, as an adult I know fully where my weaknesses lie so... I always come prepared to minimize the unknown.

So yes, going on a trip for TWO WEEKS (the longest I'll ever have been from home) to a place I've never been before scares THE HELL out of me. So what did I do?

• I walked around town using Google street view
• Mailed the hotel and car rental shop to make specific arrangements
• Mailed the tourist information service of the province of Valladolid, which resulted in me reading through a heap of leaflets, folders and brochures including information that a teacher provided. (Si te interesa: Folletos con información sobre la provincia Valladolid y su capitaldel mismo nombre).
• Printed out street plans of every town and village I want to visit, with indication of all the buildings, squares and shops I want to see or visit.
• Looked at thousands of pictures using Google images
• Figured out exactly how to get from my hotel to class.
• Figured out how to use VallaBici (a network of city bicycles to get around town easily). I definitely still won’t use public transport…
• Figured out where the public swimming pools are, when they open and how much a swim costs.
• Read the online newspapers: ElDía de Valladolid and Tribuna Valladolid
• Looked up which festivities will take place where, who is the current mayor, … you name it!

You could say I’ve already been there for the last couple of weeks. 

So to sum up: "Mantén la calma y vamos a España" (Keep calm and let’s go to Spain) really does apply!

*Making final arrangements and preparations*