Spanish Rollercoaster and Limboland

Programs for this blog post

High School Abroad in Spain

Authored By:

Annelise B.

So I'm sitting here, predicting unsuccessfully what my tone will end up being for this post. Then I realized that the fact that I cannot predict whether I'll seem happy, sad, or somewhere in between is the most honest way to describe my first 23 days.
This is probably the biggest cliche and my skin crawls a little bit to write it, but studying abroad is a rollercoaster. But it's like some mysterious rollercoaster that's in a pitch black cave so you can never really see if the next move is up, down, or a loop. Sometimes it even feels like backwards is a direction. But I think the biggest thing for me is just learning to sit in my little rollercoaster seat and trust that seatbelt is on tight and just enjoy the ride...and I've been enjoying it a lot.

First off, I can't decide how I feel about the fact that I've been here for 23 days. Sometimes I think that it seems like those numbers should be switched and it should be 32 days, but sometimes I think "wow, that's almost a month... that went by quickly." Still undecided, but mostly thinking that it's gone by quickly. The first week felt like forever, but now that things are more of a routine, time passes a little bit quicker.

I think what I've most been getting used to is living in such a small town, even though I've just been told that my town is the biggest pueblo near here. It's a lot different than living a train ride away from downtown Chicago. It is very funny to hear everyone gossiping about the different pueblos. There seems to be some huge rivalry between all the pueblos that are close to each other. Every pueblo is thinks that they are the best, and that people from other pueblos are weird. It's also a big thing at school to know which pueblo people come from. Something completely knew to me.
(Borja is the best pueblo-not bias at all though)

I'm also super lucky though, because my oldest sister goes to the University of Zaragoza, and my family owns an Atico in the historical center of Zaragoza. When you stick your head out the window of the bedroom and look to the right, you're staring at the Pillars. It's magical. So because of this, I get a lot of opportunities to stay downtown or visit, and considering that Zaragoza is my new favorite city, I'm super happy.

I stayed with Regina, my oldest sister, and her best friend Lucia two weekends ago, and it was so so fun. Zaragoza is beautiful at night.

I feel like already my Spanish is improving. I'm at a really weird stage where I feel like I'm actually able to understand everything... but not 100% it's like I know the words and I know what's happening but it doesn't naturally register like if somebody said something in English. Which is probably a no brainer but it's like having something on the tip of your tongue. You know it, but not really. But if I continue to make the progress I've made every month, I think I'll be in good shape. 
I have to say though, sometimes I think to myself "Good job Annelise you're learning, you just understood that." and then somebody says something to me or asks me a question and I have no idea what they said.

So in the end, I'm basically in limboland here. I feel like I'm constantly jumping side to side of the fence, I understand, I don't understand. I'm happy, I'm homesick. Times going slowly, it's going fast. But that's okay, and that's normal and I'm quite happy sitting on top of the fence waiting for my next move.