As I make my way to Barcelona, I have accepted that I can only prepare so much for an experience as unique as the one I have been given. I have learned what I can about Spanish culture, etiquette, and education from an innumerable amount of questionably reliable and occasionally contradictory travel websites, and I have taken in a tremendous amount of potential knowledge from the sudden enclave of well-meaning experts (perhaps the foremost experts in Barcelona who live in the Nashville and Bowling Green areas) who have been sharing all that they know/think/heard-one-time about Spain with me in recent weeks. After synthesizing this information, I have found it safe to make a couple definite conclusions: daily siestas are everything that I have been searching for in life, and I must eat everything that I can possibly consume in the next four-ish weeks. Primarily, however, I have accepted that I stll know little about how life or teaching actually is in Barcelona, and I find that to be thrilling.
I am fortune that I will be living with a host family and working with multiple teachers in Barcelona. Staying and working with people who live in the city will provide me with a much more genuine experience of Barcelona than if I was merely travelling to the city. I know that this immersive experience will require me to be flexible, and I even expect that I will make some (or perhaps more than some) silly mistakes/faux pas in the next month, but I am going to enjoy every moment of it. As for teaching in Spain, I am excited to see what education looks like in a country thousands of miles away, and I cannot wait to use that knowledge to become a better teacher for my students anywhere.
I never would have thought that I’d be on a plane to Spain or have the opportunity to teach in a different country. I recognize that so many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities await me after this plane arrives, and I look forward to growing as a person and a teacher in the next four weeks.
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