There's No Place Like Home

I can hardly believe that my year of teaching English abroad has come and gone!

It was more than a year ago that I graduated college and received notice about my acceptance into the North American Culture and Language Assistant program in Spain and I was so excited with anticipation; preparing myself to embark on the life changing monumental experience of teaching English in southern Spain for the year.

It was an absolutely phenomenal experience and I would highly recommend it to recent college graduates looking to push themselves and experience new and exciting opportunities and the chance to travel throughout Europe and the Middle East for cheap!

During the year I discovered new things about myself and was able to push myself to new limits. The intercultural exchange and diversity I encountered was a great way to experience the world and I really came to appreciate what I have in my life while learning about the world and others in it.

Now I've been home over three weeks and the time is still flying! 

I've spent these last few weeks catching up with everyone, going out, eating American foods, planning fun weekend trips *this weekend I'm running in my first 5k!* job hunting and going on interviews.

I've really been enjoying the little luxuries of being home; like the wide variety of salad dressings at the store, places like Walmart, Costco and Sam's Club, delicious New York bagels, Law and Order SVU, fast internet, going for a morning jog with my puppy!

It's scary to think that as of right now, in the fall I don't have the safety net of going back to school and picking up where I left off with my on-campus jobs and awesome classes and great friends and college living, but it feels good to be back home with my family, friends and the community I grew up in.  I do miss my life in Spain; the independence, the fulfillment I got from working with my kids, practicing my Spanish daily and always planning something new to do, or someplace exotic to travel to.

But I have all the wonderful memories ((and tens of thousands of pictures)) to remind myself of the awesome time I had with Nick and all the wonderful people I met while living in Malaga!  And I still have so much to look forward to: the rest of my life and the adventures I'll have with the people I love; and who knows what surprises are in store for me in the next few months!