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Hello all,

As some of you might know, I had to cut my adventure short. As of now I am back in the States and doing well. Still trying to get my health issues sorted out, but I feel better being back home. Below is a post I made to Facebook a few days before leaving that kind of sums up what was going on. Now that I have better internet access, I'll post a link to some more pictures. 

-Jeremy (aka Yeremi)

Dear friends,

For those who have not yet heard, I am leaving Spain this Sunday (27 May) to return home to the States. I know this is quite sudden (I only finalized my decision this morning) and could come as a surprise, but I feel this decision is in my best interest.

The past month or so, I have been going to different doctors, clinics, and hospitals with stomach problems. Each medical professional made suggestions on what it might be but I have never received a definitive answer. Along with these stomach problems, my anxiety, something that plagued me in the past, has been increasing. For the last few weeks I have been suffering from bouts of anxiety, stomach pains, and the associated physical symptoms. After much consideration of my health, I think that it is best that I return home to hopefully improve my anxiety problems and therefore allowing my doctor to better treat my stomach problems.

That said, I can safely say that I will not have any regrets returning home now. With all certainty, I have accomplished everything that I set out to do, and then some. I remember my biggest fear coming to Spain was my Spanish abilities. Not to say that 4 years in high school and two in college didn't prepare me, but I vividly remember my first day in Madrid trying to tell my hostel's address to the taxi driver. In comparison, one of my proudest language moments in Spain occurred less than a month ago when I was able to successful talk to someone in Spanish on the telephone. While this might sound silly, I assure you this is not a feat to be laughed at. At this point, I definitely do not consider myself fluent, but I am extremely pleased with the progress I've made over the past 8 months.

Besides increasing my knowledge of Spanish, I was also nervous about how my work would proceed. Thankfully this went well. I have loved nearly every minute of working with my students and teachers in my schools. Thinking back to the first days and hearing my students speak now, I know that my work helped to improve their English skills. If nothing else, my students can now respond to my habitual question of "how are you guys?" without a puzzled look and some Spanish side discussion as to what I said. I've also enjoyed working with my other auxiliars. Kyle, Tremaine, Afeefa, Aaron, and Nat are some of the most patient and passionate people I have ever encountered.

Of course, I was also nervous about meeting new people in such a foreign environment (pun intended). Thus, I also want to acknowledge all the friends I have made in this experience. With all honesty, I would not have made it past the first week of Spain without all of you. I would name you all, but there are so many of you and I would hate to leave someone out. I consider you all very good friends of my mine and I hope that no border will keep us from keeping in touch.

Thank you also to all my friends, family, and loved ones back home for your support. I'm sure I've talked to many, or all, of you sometime in the past 8 months with some sort of gripe and I want to thank you for listening, or at least pretending to listen.

In addition, my time in Spain wouldn't have been as pleasant without my flatmates Tiffany and Felipe. Everyday you guys helped me to see the world a little different and I was constantly learning from you both. Plus, you're both awesome.

As for my last few days in Spain. Tomorrow I bid farewell to my school, students, and teachers. Followed by a lot of packing and meeting up with some friends throughout the day. On Saturday I am going on my final day trip, to a city called El Escorial. Then finally on Sunday, I catch a 9am flight that arrives 9.5 hours later around 1pm in Charlotte, N.C.. Finally, I have just a two hour flight from Charlotte, after a three hour layover, which should get me to Detroit around 6pm.

I just wanted to share with you all this short, disjointed, farewell to Spain and collection of my thoughts. I'll post some more thoughts at a later date in my blog, most likely when I'm in the States.

These past 8 months have been a time of my life that I will never forget. Absolutely no regrets.