Video #6

Click here to hear students favorite spanish expressions!

One year later! Woah

Today, one year later from the day I left my American life behind and embarked on a Spanish adventure, I can honestly say that while I miss my study abroad life, I am happy where I am...and I did not expect that.  I am okay, and the transition back to Denver and college life was easier than I thought it would be.  I have great memories of my 8 months in Spain, but 8 months was the perfect amount of time, for me.   Now I feel silly for being so incredible anxious about re-entering DU college life.

Since I have been back at school I have had a lot of people ask me if I miss Spain.  The answer is complex and multidimensional, yet it's simple.

Of course I miss my friends in Salamanca. Of course I miss speaking and hearing Spanish everyday.  I miss my long walk to and from Salamanca's famous Plaza Mayor, and I miss the yummy, home cooked meals that my host mother would feed me twice a day.  I miss being able to buy a plane ticket to Paris or Budapest or Copenhagen then exploring those new cities and experiencing something totally foreign and new.  Most of all, I miss the simplicity of my life in Salamanca, because other than classwork (which was quite easy), I had essentially no responsibilities.

As I have learned not only this past year, but in my college experience, time can be unfairly fleeting, and some days I do not know where the past three years went.  But these transitions have helped me define myself.  Coming back from Salamanca was a transition, yes...but it was not as bad as I thought it would be.  I came out of it a changed and different person.

Because though my past weekend was  plagued with grocery shopping, challenging senior-year coursework readings, and trying to answer the age-old question of "What are you going to do when you graduate?,"  and I did not go on a weekend getaway to the Cliffs of Moher or have an intercambio with an Alberto or Miguel or Lara, that's okay with me.  In fact, I am excited for this year and for this next chapter in my life to unfold.

Bluntly put, yes, I miss Spain.  I remember it in the nostalgic way I remember my old high school friends, or the year I went to summer camp when I was 9, or my carefree Vermont childhood.  But we cannot go back in time.  I left Spain having had accomplished (almost) everything I wanted to do, and that is a good feeling.  Living in Spain gave me the chance to redefined myself and get lost in a foreign culture, and I figured a few things out along the way.  I miss it, but I am where I am supposed to be.

Even more interviews!

Now that I'm back in the land of reliable, high speed internet I can share with you all the videos I have compiled about my time abroad. Here are links to more interviews, with more to come in the next couple weeks! Enjoy :)

Interviews: Part IV
Interviews: Part V

Interviews: Part I

Last week I tried to bring my mac back to life and increase its memory.  In doing so, I accidentally deleted the 25 imovie projects I had been working on. Whoops.  No worries, all the 500-or-so original clips were backed up on my external hard drive. Needless to say, last week was a bit stressful trying to figure it all out....but I'm slowly chipping away at it, and by the end of summer I hope to complete the documentary project I am making about study abroad in Salamanca.

CLICK HERE to watch Part I, the Introduction video to my Salamanca Interviews!


and CLICK HERE to watch Part II!