Challenges and Future Plans

Hello readers!

I am sadly almost done with my journey in Spain. The last few weeks have been some of the best of my life, but that does not mean that I have not faced any challenges. My first few days here were a little rough and I did not know if I was going to be able to make it the full eight weeks. I felt like these weeks were going to go by so slow and that I was going to feel so alone. Thankfully and not so thankfully I was completely wrong about all of that. When I first got here I was sad, tired, and unsure about what this journey would look like. I had not connected with my host family yet, made any friends, or started teaching the first few days. I also immediately started missing my family since I was used to seeing them almost every day. I genuinely think that has been the hardest part even after I got in a routine and loved being here. I still constantly miss my family and will have things happen and feel sad that I can not share the movements with them. Thankfully facetime is a thing and I am able to talk to all of my friends and families whenever I want. This has been a big help with being away from them for so long. It has also been a huge help that I have connected with my host family and feel at home with them. Both of my host parents and my host sisters have been nothing but amazing and so welcoming since the very beginning. They remind me so much of my actual family that it makes me feel so safe being with them. They have made such an impact on my feelings about this trip. Another thing that has been such a help are the friends that I have made while here. There were three other girls that were here from the same program I came here with. We hung out almost everyday doing normal things that I would do at home. It gave the social life aspect that I thought I was going to miss out on.

I was also wrong about how slow time would move while I was here. I thought that the time would go by so slow and even put a countdown app on my phone. However, after the first week, once I started really enjoying my time here, the time started moving so fast. I even had to delete the app because it made me sad seeing the days disappear. I now want the days to go by slow and for the time I have here to last forever. However, that is sadly not possible and I am excited to go back home.

As for the future, I am not sure right now. I would love to teach here again even as a teacher’s assistant. Something about Spain genuinely just speaks to me and I have never felt like I am where I should be. I have looked at options to teach here and am keeping these open but I do not know if I could actually make that leap. So, I guess we will have to see what happens. Until next time.

Love, Ms. K