Assignment 21- Madison Underwood- Yes, I Wrote Another Blog Post About Spain.

My time spent abroad was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I believe I was able to grow so much because I was able to overcome so many obstacles. The most obvious was the language barrier since I had signed a pledge to only speak Spanish for four weeks and while I was mildly proficient in the language at the time, I was diving head first into a pool of new vocabulary and phrases that I had never heard before. There were many times that I felt overwhelmed and frustrated because I couldn't always communicate to others. For example, the first time we had to turn in our laundry, my roommate and I misunderstood our monitor and ended up spending a week without linens. I also faced a mental block where I felt like I was letting my family back home down. My family made a lot of sacrifices for me to be able to go to Spain and I sometimes felt like I wasn't taking advantage of every moment. Now, looking back at my trip, I couldn't be prouder of myself and all that I had learned and accomplished. Not only did my Spanish improve immensely, but I also learned to be more independent and self-reliant. However, it wasn't until I had a true heart-to-heart conversation with my monitor that I learned the greatest lessons of all. She was able to see how much I was stressing myself out and she was the first person to whom I had ever really opened up to about my struggles of putting too much pressure on myself. If it weren't for my monitor, I wouldn't have learned to live life in the moment, nor would I have learned to open up to people and be vulnerable, and that it's even okay to shed some tears along the way.