This Is The Moment!

For months now people have been asking me why I am going to Spain, why am I a Spanish major, why don't I just do the "normal" pre-med biology or chemistry track. And for months, I haven't really had a good answer for them. I'd say, "I thought I'd be different" or "I really just don't like biology". And yes, while both of these statements are true, they really aren't the good, solid answer that I wanted.

This trip started out as a way for me to get away from where I'm from and was a chance to do something I don't think I'll ever really have the opportunity to do again, but today something really hit me.

For everyone staying here in town, it was the first day of classes at UT. Now, me being me, I e-mailed my advisor a couple months ago and asked if I could sit in on one of her spanish classes for a few days, just to kind of refresh before I leave. So this morning as my Facebook newsfeed is blowing up with statuses about how no one wants to go back to school, I was excited. Here I am with 2 weeks left of summer vacation, and I'm voluntarily going to a class that I'm not even enrolled in. Why, you ask? Because I LOVE THIS LANGUAGE!

Learning Spanish has been something I've wanted for as long as I can remember, but it never really hit me until this morning that I have a huge passion for what I am doing. Now, by no means does that mean I'm changing my career path or what I want to do with my life. I still want to be what I've wanted to be since I was 3 years old - an emergency medicine physician. But, I love the path that my life has taken.

Being able to go to Spain is going to be incredible. While I am nervous and a bit scared to leave behind everything I know, I'm excited to just dive in to a new language and culture. There's so much to be said for being completely immersed in it rather than just sitting in a classroom reading out of a book (no offense to all of my spanish teachers over the years).

The group I'll be going with has a Facebook group - just so we can all talk and ask questions and get to know each other, you know the normal stuff. Any who, earlier today someone posted that they were stressing so much over not knowing where they are living yet. (YES! Oh my goodness USAC, I can't stand not knowing where I'm living, or who it's with. You need to tell us more than a few days before we leave!!!) And someone else commented that they really hope the students that chose to live with host families get to have USAC roomies...ok, first off - everyone is different and has different preferences about what they would like their host family to be like. Second - when we applied for housing we had some options that we could select about these preferences. While there's no guarantee that you will get them, they try. Now, me on the other hand...I applied to not live with fellow study abroad students and to have a family that didn't speak English. There's a reason I'm going to Spain, and you can bet that I am going to make the most of it and accomplish the goals I have.

Here's my goal - when I come back from Spain, I want to speak fluently.

For this to happen, honestly I'm planning on cutting most of English out of my life. (I mean with the exception of talking to my family and friends back here in the states) But really, once my plane lands, there will be no more English. Call me crazy, but I really think that's the best way - no english music, no english books or TV shows, solomente español.

And here's the best part, I love it! And I'm excited to do this. This is something I've dreamed of my whole life and I finally have the chance to make this dream a reality.