Two weeks ago, I finished my last exam. In a month, I expect to be pretty much done with my thesis. These last 8 months have really just flown by that it's hard to express my feelings... gratitude? relief? amazement? disappointment? joy? fear? I suppose all of the above.
I'll start with the language. I'm still continuing to learn every single day. Some days I am amazed by my fluency and other days, at my lack thereof. Every day I discover new things about peninsular Spanish and the crazy colloquialisms (MANDAHUEVOS!). A few months ago I also reached the point where I need to translate a Spanish word or phrase into English, just because I'm so used to it, and I get frustrated because there isn't an English equivalent that has the same ring. This is a really odd feeling when it's not even your native language!
Another obvious yet still notable accomplishment is establishing friendships that are based solely in Spanish. I mean, I've had tons of hispanohablante friends, and when I traveled to Central America with Engineers Without Borders we only used Spanish. But, in the first case there was always English to fall back on and in the second case there was always somebody with a higher Spanish ability who could translate. Here I've made friends who are native Spanish speakers who speak nil English, native Spanish speakers who have a relatively high English level, and non-native speakers... but we always communicate in Spanish. It was only the other day when I brought an Australian couchsurfer to watch the Eurocup game with my friends that I realized how much I've taken the language for granted as the fact was that not only were my classmates from Spain literally incapable of communicating in English (they did understand our conversation, to a certain degree) but also that I've managed to socialize and work with them in solely their native language.
Next topic: my academic and professional pursuits. I'm several steps in the right direction towards my ever-evolving goal but I'm satisfied with everything so far. I really have struggled but learned a lot this year. Who thought that I would be able to learn engineering in Spanish? ELECTRICAL engineering, nonetheless?
One of the biggest lifestyle changes I had was the bike. Started out with a reluctant, awkward relationship with the bike. Slowly I saw the advantages of biking in Valencia and I even started to enjoy using Valenbisi. The turning point came when I bought a bike... after that there was no turning back! Now I'm extremely dependent on my bike and it would be a tough adjustment to be without it.
Some things I really need to work on: being by myself and being ok with uncertainty. I always thought that growing up as an only child and being relatively mature for my age made me more independent. And it has. But being able to get around and take care of myself is way different from enjoying my own company all the time. I've realized that this happens to me because I'm generally very busy that I don't have time to realize it, but then I'll have some downtime and I'll feel quite alone. And about uncertainty... it's absolutely exciting and scary at the same time. Even if there isn't a specific person or entity pressuring me, I still feel the overall societal pressure to, well, succeed (however ambiguous that is). The biggest pressure is internal, as I know what I am capable of, I want to be challenged, and I want to make a difference. I'm proud to say that I remain an optimist and that things do turn out ok.
Have I grown over these past 8 months? Absolutely. But I still remain (more or less) the same person, with (more or less) the same convictions and goals. I strong feel that my experiences in Valencia have given me a push in the right direction, brought me closer to and made me more sure of those goals.
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