Introverted and Travelling

So, one of the things that I've been curious about how this semester will turn out is meeting locals, having spontaneous plans, making friends and merging with the culture.  The only hitch is that I'm fairly introverted.

Not that anything's wrong with it, but I just have a harder time meeting strangers and spontaneously interacting.  I can do it when I need to, but I'm much more relaxed when I know it's going to happen, almost as if it's like I've got to plan for it.  Even around the pledge class in my frat (my 15 closest friends with the exception of my girlfriend), I get really quiet, but I still love hanging out with them.  I'm still adjusting to the idea of blogging consistently too, but it's getting easier.

So I've understandably gotten a little excited when I found this blog.  Digging through a few links also found these two articles.  Reading these really let me relax some.  I was a little anxious about feeling pressure to bond with locals every weekend when I was abroad, as my mother would do.  And while I admire Mom's ability to do that so quickly, I just didn't feel like I'd be comfortable doing that.

As much as I can, I'm still going to try making friends and being open to everything, but I'm going to be doing it in my own style a little bit more.  As silly as it sounds, this is the first time I thought of doing that, but I'm really looking forward to it now :D

BTW, I leave in nineteen days...