The start

This will be the first post of many about the trip to Spain and travels within the country as well as Europe. Many friends and family members already know that I will be living in Spain for about 8 months teaching English starting in October and ending in May. But not many know about the route that I went down to do this.

At the start of the new year, I honestly had no idea what to do after I finished my Master's degree in Spanish. After two years, I have finished my course work in May and now waiting to take my comprehensive exams in August (procrastinating studying by writing this blog). I didn't know what to make of my life after this degree because I know I will not pursue a PhD in the field nor teach it. The degree I have worked for and will obtain is a literature degree, offering very little career wise unless I go into a doctorate. Even though I love the language as well as reading and writing, literary theory and criticism is not what I wanted to as far as a career in academia is concerned. Taking graduate Linguistics classes helped me see this. I immediately wanted to start a career by studying language, but I was (and still am) bounded by the Spanish MA program until its finished. But, I have no idea what I was going to do after it was all set and done. Either apply to other programs for Linguistics or say screw it and teach Spanish. The second option is way more difficult because my lack of teaching experience.

Around Fall 2013, one of the students in the Linguistics program told me about his time teaching English in Granada before starting his master's degree. The program he did it through was called CIEE, a real cool program to teach English overseas and spend time abroad. I looked into it and knew that I needed something like this in my personal life, to live out of the country, and personal life, gaining teaching experience. However, I would have to pay about $2,000 for this program, yet it would cover everything. I showed this to my sister (a big supporter of mine when it came to school and life in general) and she did her own research on the subject. She found out that the Spanish Ministry of Education offers the same program, minus the price tag. I jumped on the opportunity, downloaded the application forms, got a letter of rec from one of my professors and sent everything in March. I didn't hear anything for a long time and I honestly lost hope until the second week of June when I opened my email and the offer was there to accept. I was at work, I lost my mind and I yelled:

I'M GOING TO SPAIN!!!
The rest, everyone knows...

I'm going to teach at two schools in Plasencia (Cáceres), in the region of Extremadura. I'm leaving for Madrid on September 19, arriving the next day. I will spend at least 8 months of my life in Spain, with an option of reapplying and staying longer. This is the biggest thing I am gonna do in my life. Homesickness, culture shock, complete independence and Spanish lexical differences will hit me hard but I know that this is an experience I will never regret.