This blog recounts my journey as I live in Málaga, Spain for 8 months, from October 2011 to May 2012, participating in the North American Language and Culture Assistant Program as an Auxilar (English teaching assistant). More info on the program here: http://www.mec.es/sgci/usa/en/programs/us_assistants/default.shtml
All prayers are much appreciated. :) I hate planes, first and foremost. But I have taken the flight to Europe twice before when I went to France, so I know I can do it! Just gotta keep looking to God and have faith that I'm safe in His hands no matter what happens!
Also, the thought of traveling and living on my own for the first time in a foreign country can make me feel queasy (at best). I first traveled to France in high school, so chaperones always kept tabs on us, not letting us stray. During the summer before my last year at UCLA, I returned to France once more with the UCLA French Department's summer study abroad program. We had to figure out our own flight plans, which I worried about at the time. But I ended up meeting up with other program participants at the airport, which kept my pesky nerves at bay. Being adults, accountability for our actions rested on us once we arrived, but the program semi-took-care-of logistics. This time around, I gotta figure everything out myself: the flight, my accommodations, how leases work in Spain, roommates, how to get to my school, how to set up a Spanish bank account, how to figure out their bureaucracy to get my NIE (ID number for foreigners), the list goes on...
However, I know this experience will help me grow. I feel like despite my fears, I HAVE to do this.
Once, during a PBS show called Road Trip Nation -- where young people go around the country interviewing inspiring people who are making the most of their life and living their dreams -- I heard a quote that resonated with me. After every interview, the road-trippers ask the interviewee to sign their bus. The artist they had interviewed during that episode wrote on the roof, "Follow the Fear!" and signed her name. She then explained that the best, most pivotal moments in her life had occurred when she followed the Fear, that if she hadn't done so, she would've missed out on so many things. "Follow the Fear!"
That's what this blog is essentially about -- a shy California girl following her fear and (hopefully) capturing some of the best lifescapes I'll ever encounter.
