Self Intro!

Hello everyone and my name is Liam, I am 22 years old and I have been having a great time in Spain so far! But first a little about me. I am originally from Rocklin, California, which is near Sacramento, but I moved to Tempe, AZ and studied Political Science and Business Management at Grand Canyon University (GCU). I studied abroad in Bilbao, Spain 2 years ago and fell in love with the country and I am now so excited to be back! Currently, I'm exploring teaching in Spain to see if it's something I want to pursue long-term, after all this is the time to experience new things and possible careers.

I have always been a big history nerd and have loved writing, specifically short stories. I am so excited I now have a platform to write about my personal experiences while I am in Spain. Hopefully, my experiences can help all of you future and current teachers out there as well! While in Spain, my primary goals are to determine if teaching is a career I want to pursue long-term, to build cross-cultural relationships and experiences, and to improve my conversational Spanish skills. 

I arrived on August 12th with the first group of CIEE students, where I did the two-week immersion program, which also includes Spanish classes five days a week for two weeks. I’m eager to connect with the students and faculty at my school placement in Rivas-Vaciamadrid. Although it's a bit farther from the city center, I'm excited to explore how this area differs from central Madrid and to adapt my teaching strategies to best support my students in learning English. I love basketball as well, especially the NBA (Gooo Kings!!), and I am curious to learn more about European basketball and the leagues they have right here in Madrid. Will especially try to go to as many local games as possible.  

So far my experience with CIEE and Tandem have been incredible, and I am so excited to begin traveling all over Europe and Spain, to start working on activities for my classes, and to share all of these unique experiences here on this blog. I will do my best to share all the fun, challenging, exciting, and nerve-racking times I have here on this blog. My main goal is to try and say yes to every new experience and activity, even if it is out of my comfort zone, because it is in those moments you have the most memorable outcomes and experiences! Hasta luego, it is going to be a fun year!