febrero!

It's been awhile! Well the first month has had its ups and downs here. I would say I have days where I want to rip my hair out because no one understands me and I can't get my point across or something can immediately tell I speak English or whatever. They don't call it a language barrier for nothing. I have a LOT more appreciation for immigrants in the US now. It is a struggle but I keep telling myself I am learning more every day. I think my Spanish is getting smoother and quicker with sentences but I feel like my grammar is almost going down the drain haha, I don't know it's different every day. Traveling is a struggle to plan. SO stressful. It's been a really big strain on me to go the places I want to go but also to please everyone that I came here with and met here. Everyone has different agendas and preferences but I'm just trying to please everyone and it is taking a toll on my stability. Work and classes are okay too. Midterms are coming up. I enjoy all my classes because I do feel like I am learning a lot about the culture and my professors are all very interesting and mostly engaging. It is a struggle to fully indulged in the books and movies and colloquial language however because I do not understand every completely yet you know? It's like walking in on an inside joke and you know what the words are saying but you really don't completely understand why it's funny. Work has been a little up and down too. I really like the younger girls that I work with, one is from Germany and one from France. They understand Spanish better and speak English too so it helps me out a lot. I think I really enjoy the work, the NGO has a consultative status with the UN which is so cool and works on collaborating with schools all over the world to promote peace and cooperation. So I will continue with this work and make the most of it! I am mostly translating documents but I think the exposure to these kinds of things is always interesting! We spent the weekend in Sevilla and it was amazing. I can picture myself living among the little cobble stone roads looking out on the river and soaking in the sun some day haha but I was glad to get back to the exciting city life of Madrid. We did see a great flamenco show and the people were so friendly, the accent is super interesting too. It would be an adventure to study in southern spain for sure.