It is hard to imagine with only 3 weeks of downtime, I am back up and running on yet another adventure. Even though my three weeks were packed with visiting friends, the shore and family, it was nice to lay my head down on a familiar pillow for a few days. IBI was definitely a blast, however now that I am in Spain for my second day; it feels like IBI has continued. The people are drastically different, but the feel of being in yet another hotel, living the life of a European and soaking up the Spanish culture seems very familiar.
The past two days have been a whirlwind I have not experienced yet this past year in all my travels. I am assuming the reason behind this has been my reliance on the language and my prayers to quickly have the Spanish come back to me a.s.a.p. Our adventure began with our long flight to Barcelona and a week stay in the suburbs of the city center itself. Castelldefels is a gorgeous little town from what we have seen so far. Yesterday (Day 1) was busy with orientation, exhaustion, and some exploration. We are only 3 blocks from the beach, so a short pilgrimage to the Mediterranean was in order. The water is warm and unbelievably clear which is incredible and extremely desirable.
Today had a totally different feel then our first, we hit the ground running with early morning language training and conversation boat camp. I made the mistake of naivety by introducing myself by my mostly common Spanish name Lorenzo, and I now regret it for the nerve-racking sound of my name being called by many of our professors currently with us for our intro courses. If a question isn’t being asked, then Lorenzo “en la playa or donde es Lorenzo?”
I can say with confidence that the nerves are beginning to settle and working on my focus of truly learning Spanish has kicked in. Our time so far has been an adventure and a lot of that is thanks to our reliance on the lengua (language). I always get asked by you guys why I am leaving again…and my best explanation from today would be where else could I run past the Villas on the board walk along the Mediterranean?
Adios amigos…..
