Off to Spain...

Tomorrow morning I fulfill a longtime dream of mine ... visiting Spain. I have been thinking in Spanish all week in preparation and cannot wait to speak a language I have actually spent a long time learning. Plus, the Basque region is known for its sheep cheese paired with apple cider, beautiful coastlines and I even have a strong lead on a place with good paella. I hope that I love it as much as I have imagined I would since I was 13 and first studying the language. However, I also hope it is nothing like I have imagined it.

At 13 I was convinced I would need these language skill because I was certain to marry a Spanish or Italian dancer with a fiery streak and caring eyes. Hey, I was 13 and lonely, I was allowed to invent whatever world I wanted. Now, for me the most exciting thing is truly immersing myself in the language. Being in Germany surrounded by a language I do not really speak has made me appreciate the effort and years I spent studying Spanish. Just to hear it spoken around me and to do my best to construct sentences somewhat detailing what I need or where I need to go will be a long awaited culmination of all those years. My true hope is that after immersing myself in it for this week, it will be even more apparent that I could one day be fluent if given the chance to speak it regularly. I have no idea if this is still true since I have not studied the language for 10 years now, so I look forward to finding out.