All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. Walt Disney

I don´t remember the exact moment I decided I wanted to study abroad. For a lot of my life I have been passionate about traveling. I went to visit my cousins in Indiana, I went to visit my friend in Michigan, I went to camp in Georgia, and I went to Peru. I sought out oppurtunities to travel. I did not wait for my parents to want to travel somewhere, becuase he knows when that may be. I took my dream into my own hands and began.

I decided to come to Spain for the upmost reason of learning Spanish. And that I have accomplished. I have worked all year with the assitance of my host family, my friends, and my teachers. I am often told, "wow, your spanish is really good" by most people I meet, and you cannot even imagine the pride I feel.

I also decided to come to Spain as opposed to south america is so that the possibilty of travel to other countries within my year would be a higher possibility. Although I did not make it to many other countries, I am satisfied with my trip to Switzerland. I have accepted the fact that AFS is not a program for "travel" but a program for education. They send you to a country for you to spend the year in that country and learn about the culture of that country, not every country surrounding it.

The last reason I decided to study abroad was to meet new people, learn about new cultures, and to do something different with my life. I know that the best way to learn is to learn by experience. As I wrote in my last post, I have grown so much and the world through my eyes has now changed. As one of my AFS leaders told me, I now have concern for more than just my own country.  My best friends here in spain have family, and are from France and Romania. I have a boy in my group from Turkey, and a girl from Slovakia. I have other friends here with family in Argentina. When I watch the news and I hear about a natural disaster, or violence somewhere in the world, it means a lot more to me becuase I may have friends there.

When I told people I was going to Spain for a year the too most common reactions were that they either didnt believe me, or they simply asked "why?". Studying abroud in high school in America is not that common. In my opinion, the majority of people in America have this idea that everyone needs to go to school all 12 years, get good grades, then to college, then graduate and get a job. If you dont follow this basic outline, or step out of the saftey zone and do something different, people are convinced it wont work. Or they think it will mess everything up. When I told people I am going abroad a lot of people were worried I was making a mistake. A lot of people were worried that this would mess up my high school transcript, or that colleges won´t like me. One think that i have learned after all this, is the best way to be the best you can be is to go outside your comfort zone.

"A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion."
Chinese Proverb

Coming to Spain has been one of the best desicions I have ever made in my whole life so far. I have made friends for a lifetime, and learned more than I could have ever imagined. Thank you to all those who helped me reach my goal. The first steps of a young dream :)