hola!

hello friends, family, lovers and everything in between!
i hope you are all doing well, whereever you are at the moment. i just began my current adventure in El Salvador where i will be spending time living and learning for the spring semester. ive decided to try a blog as ive heard they are easy to manage and a good way to keep others updated a bit on what im doing. i left the states on jan. 9th and flew to nicaragua where i spend a week with my family in managua that i stayed with over this past summer for 2 months. it was a great way to spend time with them again and ease my way back into speaking spanish. then on the 16th i got on a bus and made my way to san salvador to meet a bunch of new friends that i will be spending countless hours getting to know, learning from, and having fun with.
so far, so good. the people are great, the food is delicious, the mountains are breathtaking, and the heat is intense. all the casa students will be spending 2 days a week (M and W) at a praxis site doing a whole ton of different things. over the last week or so we´ve been visiting all 9 sites, learning about each one along the way. my site is called San Ramon, and i´m really excited about it (i´ll tell ya more about that later though). we started classes yesterday, which was weird but great at the same time. i had philosophy with Fr. Mark, a jesuit who was also here teaching last semester. he´s incredible and full of stories. i cant wait to spend more time with him. then this morning we had theology with Sr. Peggy who is a spitfire to say the least. she´s one of those sassy old nuns with a open mind and and an even wider open mouth....in a nutshell, i love her already. this afternoon we have history with Gene who we´ve spent a bit of time with already since we´ve been here. he´s probably the most famous american journalist within el salvador so im confident that the class with have so much to offer for our hungry minds.
i dont want this to be to long, as i fear it may be already, but i guess i just want to say that i love it here. i already have so many stories, i wish i could tell them all, maybe they´ll come out bit by bit. but i´d love to hear what all of you are up to as well so send me emails (or snail mail....cough cough). i hope all is well and hopefully i´ll be able to update this every once in a while to let you know what i´m up to!

paz y amor!