Summing Up

Ok, ok. I know this is long in coming. I’ve been back for over a week now. But, as I’m sure most of you know, coming home after an extended stay, far away, is a lot of work. You have to unpack and you want to see all the people you’ve been missing for weeks or months. But it’s here now, and that’s all that matters.

So now that this amazing trip is over, did I accomplish what I set out to do? Did I achieve the growth I was looking for? Yes and no. The no is short, so I’ll start with that. The only thing I would do over is speak more Spanish. It was insanely difficult, especially because we were together as a group so often, and we’re all English speakers. So maybe my Spanish didn’t improve as much as I wanted it to, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t improve at all! I can understand it now like nobody’s business (don’t quote me on that). Those Spaniards are the fastest speakers of the Spanish-speaking world. If you can remotely understand them, you can understand everyone else. My confidence in speaking definitely went up. I don’t feel awkward or weird starting a conversation in Spanish anymore. It actually seems pretty natural. I dunno how much my speaking ability improved, but I feel like I’m slightly more articulate now. That’s acceptable, right?

And now to expand on the yes. I’ll admit, I had to look back at my first post to even remember what it was I wanted to do. “Growth, and lots of it,” is what I said. Well, I found that growth I was looking for and learned some surprising things too. I feel like I’ve gained a confidence that can only be gained by stepping completely into a foreign world. I think I could navigate my way around the planet now with little trouble, and I definitely outgrew that terrified feeling I had at the beginning. That’s not to say I won’t have some apprehension about going somewhere new. That always comes with something new. I just think I’ll know how to handle the situation better.

I’ve grown in my awareness of the other people of this world and my tolerance for different points of view. I’m a white girl from North Idaho that goes to school in Utah, so I can’t say I’ve been exposed to much diversity, until now. I feel like I better understand the role of culture in people’s lives and how it influences their living and thinking. If you take the time to know the culture, you’ll know the people.

I think most importantly, I’ve grown in my love for people. I’ve realized the great worth of everyone’s souls and seen that we are all sons and daughters of God, no matter what our race or nationality is. There are so many GOOD people on this earth, trying to make the world a better place by making their cities and communities a better place. There is still hope for humanity.

I was surprised by how normal it felt to be in Spain. It didn’t really feel like a foreign country (I realize that Spain is a developed country and that if I went to a developing country, that notion would be blown out of the water). Sure, everything was in Spanish, but it still didn’t feel that different. I used to think of foreign countries as these big, interesting but scary places, where everything is different and you have to completely change everything you do to adapt. I quickly realized that’s not true. There’s little things here and there that you might have to change (like shorter showers and no carpet and different eating times), but it’s not like you went to live with lions or something. You’re still living with people.

The most interesting thing I learned (besides arco de medio punto!) is that we really aren’t that different from the rest of the people in the world. I think the similarities outweigh the differences. We are all striving for one thing: happiness. We just might look for it in different ways. I loved learning how these cultures found happiness in their lives. It opened me up to new ways of finding joy in my own life.

One last thing, I’ve learned to appreciate the life I have here and the blessings and opportunities available to me (like free water and free refills! Just kidding, but only kind of). Seriously, we live in a great country with amazing freedoms that I will try not to take for granted anymore. I’m so grateful to be here.

So even though I didn’t become as fluent as a native speaker, I think I learned some really important life lessons that will stay with me longer than my Spanish would have. All that’s left to say is thank you. Thank you to all who have influenced my life in such a positive way. I wouldn’t have been able to have this experience without you.

What will become of this blog, you might ask? Don’t worry, I will keep updating it, although probably not twice a week. Remember, it’s about my adventures abroad AND at home. Trust me, I always find some sort of trouble fun, wholesome thing to get myself into, so keep checking back! Until then!