Honesty time for what is potentially my final entry to this blog: my year abroad experience has been harder than I ever imagined that it would be. This doesn't negate the many good things about my life in Spain and this realisation has taken a while to surface, but there it is; this year has been bloody hard! There's been all the obvious difficulties that come with living abroad; learning the language, coping with culture change - the extremity of which shocked me throughout the first semester - starting a new job, setting up a bank account, finding a place to live etc. etc. Furthermore, whilst I had been told to expect it, I didn't imagine the homesickness I suffered in the first few months. I had to experience the loss of family whilst being thousands of miles away from them, the feeling of missing out from my main circle of university friends who were in their final year, the challenge of maintaining a long-term relationship and the subsequent failure of that. Really, I'm not trying to get any sympathy votes but I would like to validate the reasons why, for me, this has not been the singular greatest year of my life. There is so much pressure to make it so and to make the most of it, to squeeze all the life out of it before it's too late because when will you get this opportunity again? But I don't buy into this view; we have the ability to create our own opportunities in life and I've always been pretty averse to polarising human experience in that way.
Anyway, there's the slightly melancholy part of my final "Third Year Abroad" blog post. Fortunately, the happier part still burns bright in my mind and hopefully it'll continue to do so when looking back on this whole experience. This year has been, in many ways, one of the most rewarding and illuminating that I have ever enjoyed. I have learnt more than I could have imagined learning about Spain, about myself and about human nature in general! My perceptions of what is normal have been challenged and, more importantly, I have met some of the most interesting, talented and the kindest individuals I could have hoped to have met during these past nine months.
The students at my colegio are remarkable, brilliant beings, each and every one of them. I look at their faces and envisage them all grown up, wondering what's in store for them. They have taught me a lot about humility, kindness as well as reminding me what it is to see the world with curious eyes. I will deeply miss seeing them grow up, laughing at their silly jokes, observing their uninhibited sense of fun and wit, even their ridiculously overblown squabbling. I wish them happiness and strength and I hope that they survive adulthood with their inner child intact! I have been so privileged to meet them at such an important stage in their lives.
I spent my final week at the school feeling overwhelmed by the love from the children and the brilliant teachers with whom I worked. Gonna miss them terribly!
I've realised that there so many people and places that I'd like to write about here that naming them would result in either a full-length essay or having to miss some people out (hence, also, the glaring lack of photos of people in this post). Some of them are fellow language assistants including my lovely flatmate, the Torre lot and those living in Santander, whilst others are Cantabrians who I've been lucky enough to meet in La Vetusta, La Asunción bakery, Jonatan Rueda, Hogar, the Metropolitan gym and Musli in Torrelavega, at surfing lessons with Ahau surf and through language exchanges. Suffice to say that I've met some incredibly warm, special, interesting people and made some friends for life. I'm going miss 'em all deeply but glad that, with many of them, it won't be our last meeting!
As for places, it's a similar story. The north of Spain was a surprise for me in so many ways. From the (often awful) weather to the beauty of the beaches and mountains; I have honestly never encountered such a spectacular coastline as that of Northern Spain and am grateful of my decision to live here, even despite the gale-force winds and torrential rain! Liencres will always hold a special place in my heart as my favourite Cantabrian beach and the ruta de Cares, Asturias is probably the most epic visual experience I have ever had. It's been great exploring the region of Cantabria itself: the varied beaches around La Magdalena, skateboarding around el Parque de las Llamas and of course the hiking trips to Peña Sagra and Fuente Dé. The list would go on but it might get a bit tedious for anyone other than myself! Basically, I'd strongly strongly recommend a visit to Cantabria and Asturias to anyone of the outdoorsy kind, because for that sort of thing in Spain, you can't get much better!
One last thing - after spending the first couple of months convinced that I would not see a smidgen of improvement in my Spanish, I am so happy to say that I've seen a definite change for the better. I have learnt un montón this year and can't quite believe how my journey towards fluency has begun to make itself apparent.
This entry was never going to do justice in expressing how much I appreciate the friends I have made and the experiences I've had, but I hope that it goes a little way to saying THANK YOU Spain, it's been inolvidable :)
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