Most people are wondering if I'm ready. Most people question if I'll get homesick. But the looming question on everybody's minds is why? Why Spain and why for so long?
First off, I've dreamed of going to Spain since I first learned that I had Spanish blood in my ancestry. I used to write reports about Spain and even tried Spanish cooking when I was 10.
I have a very biased opinion that Spanish is God's language, but unfortunately for me, I grew up on a strange dialect of Tex-Mex Spanglish. So, I'm taking this trip abroad to immerse myself in a very natural second language.
Perhaps more than anything though I hope that this trip abroad will help me to learn more about myself. Studying abroad is as much a study of academics as it is of oneself. Even the smallest journey is like a crash course on learning how to react in different situations, in different languages in under different cultural constraints. There's something to be said about removing yourself from everything you've ever known to be familiar and landing splat into the unknown. After living in Washington D.C., traveling to New York, Mexico and New Zealand it's almost become like a addiction - like a frenzy to see, hear and taste even the tiniest corner of the globe. I've been bitten by the travel bug and the reactions are hard to shake.
I pity the person who's never had the desire to move past the smallest levels of familiarity to explore something unknown. I pity the person who's never so much as ventured into the pages of a travel magazine or wanted to expand their mind to anything beyond typical Americanisms. Our world is constantly shrinking becoming more and more connected. In seconds we can connect to India, London and Zaire all the same time using nothing but our fingertips. To have an edge in any job market you almost have to have familiarity with different worldviews.
I believe this experience is the opportunity of lifetime, the kind of adventure that everyone wishes they had when they look back on their college lives. I've got no kids, financial troubles or mortgages to pay. My family has long since delivered me into God's hands and let me make my decisions as the wind carries me. So my answer to the why question is that it's now, right now, because if not now, then who knows when?
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You lucky, lucky girl. I'd love to go off to Spain with such a dear friend as yourself. Alas, I am in the real world and have to work, however I put half my paycheck in my savings to put toward a trip such as that. Maybe to visit you? I don't know, but that would be oodles of fun. Oh the possibilities of Erica and I alone in Spain, meeting various ppl and laughing are asses off being lost. Im happy you get to go, I think this trip will do you some good, you have so much to be proud of, you write very well, you've traveled and keep traveling, you have the confidence and courage to go beyond places that ppl can only dream of. You're strong, don't ever look down on yourself Erica, theres no need. I'll miss you mujer. Con Carino, Marisel
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