Where have I been???

 

As one of my friends rightfully pointed out, I haven’t been so good at updating. But, here is a new one for today.

The second week in February marked the halfway point of my time in Spain and as of today, I have a little under four months left. Given this, I think it might be helpful to reflect over the last 5 months I’ve spent in Spain.

What I’ve done:

• I’ve been in a foreign country for 162 days, and counting…
• I’ve increased my list of visited countries from 2 (Canada and Mexico) to 7 (Canada, Mexico, Spain, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany).
• I’ve applied to 30 different law schools, all from abroad. So far my record is 12 acceptances, 6 denials, 4 waitlists, and I’m still waiting on 8. Included in these are 8 scholarships, including 5 scholarships of over $10,000 per year.
• I have visited the three coasts of Spain and have taken countless buses and trains to these cities.
• I’ve managed to avoid private transport throughout my entire trip. This seems amazing since there was hardly a day in Michigan that I did not drive somewhere.
• I have, hopefully, improved the English of my, roughly, 300 students. In addition, I’ve spread the knowledge of Valentines Day, Christmas (in the States), and Thanksgiving to Spanish children.
• I have picked up some of the British English, which I so despised in the beginning. I now find myself looking for the rubbish bin, spelling some words differently (mainly the double “ll” as in travelling), and also using have a lot more (as evident in this update).
• My Spanish is much better than when I first arrived. I now feel confident enough to pay exactly with change, as opposed to the beginning when I used to only pay with big bills, to avoid paying the incorrect amount. I can also give directions in Spanish to the occasional lost Spanish tourist. But, most importantly, I can recognize when my students swear in class and yell at them.
• I’ve been a tour guide of Madrid, both for one of my friends who visited after New Years and my family who was just here a few weeks ago.

What I will do:

• I will make a decision about which law school to attend in the next month. This decision has been driving me crazy, but I know it’ll all work out fine.
• I will be visiting some more countries before I come home. Later this month, I’ll be spending a week in northern Italy for our Easter break. I also have a trip to Morocco in the works. I hope to visit Greece, the U.K., Paris, and more of Spain, in the next four months.
• Continue to improve my Spanish.
• Learn more about Spanish cooking. I’ve been pretty good with learning some traditional Spanish foods, but I can definitely do more.
• Explore and take more pictures of Madrid. I’ve clearly spent most of my time in Madrid, but it’s the city that I have the fewest pictures of.
• Send some postcards out. I have about 12 that I’ve been meaning to send but keep on forgetting to do so.
• I’ll work on updating more often.