Update

I met with Dr. Julseth yesterday. He's in charge of the Spanish study abroad programs at Belmont. My friend Graham is going to study abroad with me if he can, so he came to the meeting with me. We stood outside Dr. Julseth's office for 10 minutes or so, waiting for the 4 o'clock meeting I had emailed him about a few days before. He didn't remember. We eventually went into his office, only to have him tell us we needed to reschedule for another time. That's fine, Dr. Julseth, whatever you say...

And then, he asked if I knew where I wanted to study. I said Madrid. He just looked at me. "Belmont's program is in Santiago. Belmont doesn't have a program in Madrid, you know." Ah, but Dr., I've done my research. You see, Belmont doesn't have a program in Madrid, but one of Belmont's affiliate programs does. I want to be in a big city, because part of my desire to go to Spain is so that I can see the rest of Europe too. And that's much cheaper and easier if I am already in Madrid, and not in a small town six hours away from Madrid, like Santiago. "Madrid is very internationalized. You're going to meet a lot of people from a lot of different places. You have to really work to find the Spaniards in Madrid." That's kind of what I'm looking for.... And I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to track down some Spaniards, Dr. Julseth. It is Spain after all... "Have you ever been to a big city before? Like New York or Chicago?" I live in Saint Louis, I grew up going to Chicago. "There are a lot of pickpockets in Madrid, you're going to have to be careful. It's not like here in Nashville." Yes, I know. Thank you.

The conversation continued in such a manner for a few more minutes, before it concluded with "Well, bring the information on that other program because I'm not familiar with it, and we can talk about what you want to do next week."

See, I know that we just met, but there is something you need to know about me, Dr. Julseth. Try as hard as you might, you're not going to change my mind. About anything. I know what I want, and you may as well quit trying now.

My mother's reaction when I relayed this exchange to her? "Oh, God have mercy on that man if he thinks that's going to work!"

Want to know something else funny? Dr. Julseth didn't acknowledge Graham more than once. He looked at him and said "You're doing what she's doing?" at the beginning of the conversation, and then never even made eye contact with him again. Like the sidekick who is just along for the ride.

We meet again to begin paperwork and such next Wednesday.