Bear with me family and friends, I am new to this "blog" thing. The day before I was supposed to fly out to Madrid, I went to a new optometrist. Right off the bat, I recognized he had an accent, but as we continued to talk I couldn't quite pin where he was from. I introduced myself and after only a few minutes, he knew I was a nursing student who was flying out to Spain the next day to study abroad. He jumped at the opportunity to quiz me in both nursing and geography. I thought this was an eye appointment?! He meant well and proceeded to quiz me on where I thought he was from, based on his accent. After a few clues, I still couldn't get it. (Istanbul, Turkey in case you were wondering/can imagine that accent). He took such interest in the idea of me studying abroad he went out to tell the receptionist everything I told him and insisted I came back with pictures and stories. At the end of the appointment I was assured of three things...neither my sense of geography nor my eyesight was perfect and I was well on my way to a semester of learning beyond the books...