Back For More

It's been one year since my last entry here, and while I haven't exactly had heavy traffic, I thought I would get back to writing just a bit in the hopes of inspiring myself and others to live their lives more adventurously while learning a new language.  If you've read any of my previous entries here, my goal with this blog has always been to push myself and others to have confidence in speaking a foreign language and to use that language to better their lives.  My last entry here was written in Madrid, Spain, just a few days before I returned to the United States after spending the month of May in an apartment in the Lavapies neighborhood of Madrid.  The year that followed was not at all what I expected it to be, and here I am today, once again writing from Madrid, yes, Madrid, about how learning a second language has changed my life.

When I came back to the United States, initially I was thrilled to be home, but I quickly found myself wanting to return to Spain. The experience had opened my eyes to new things and my life in the United States would never be the same, nor could it compare to a life in Spain.  I met a very special woman while I was in Spain the first time, and for the next year, we stayed in contact, talking to each other each and every day, and in October, she came to spend a week with me in the United States.  After that week, we made plans for me to come back to Spain, this time permanently, as we were going to live together.  I am now proud to say we are to be married (a rather arduous task to take on in Spain for an American such as myself) and we are expecting our first child in November.  All of this because I took the risk of traveling to Spain all by myself as a way of discovering who I was and who I could be.  Had I never decided to speak Spanish, who knows where I would be today.

I'm not suggesting learning a second language is going to find you the love of your life, but I certainly never would have met my wife if I did not speak Spanish.  Speaking Spanish has opened doors for me, not only at home, but worldwide.  I can speak confidently to people from 21 different countries that I would not have been able to if I did not speak Spanish.  I have no plans on traveling the world, at least not right now, but speaking two languages has made my life infinitely more exciting.  After spending just one month in Spain, I was able to say good-bye to the parts of my life I no longer wanted and I was able to become the person I feel I had always been meant to be.

We may move back to the United States in the coming years, we may not, but what's important is that I have found a life here that is certainly more interesting than the one I left behind.  I'd love to hear the stories of those who have done similar things, of those who have used Spanish, or any other language for that matter, to change their lives for the better.  I know I haven't been around here much, but I plan on spending some more time here from now on.  I hope to hear from you.

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