Enseñar, aprender, dar y recibir

I was talking with my Spanish mother over lunch about how I was doing with speaking the language and making friends here. I told her about how I met some Tufts alumnus who had also studied abroad here and were now working in Madrid, teaching English. When she asked if I ever wanted to come back and perhaps live and work here, I realized I never asked myself that yet. But I said that I'm very interested in coming back, but I don't know how or when.

She then began talking about a student she hosted about three years ago, through a different exchange program. The student was only 16 or 17 years old, and she was from Japan, and she was blind. But despite being blind, she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and going out with friends and could find her way around the city without the mother's help. She also apparently had an amazing singing voice. One day, the little girl made Maria José (my host mother) sit down and sang 'O Sole Mio and it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever listened to.


Maria José kept on repeating, with her hands on her heart, that she doesn't know about us (meaning study-abroad students), but she learns so so much by hosting us. "I don't know if you all learn anything from us, but we learn so much from you." I almost burst into tears >.<, trying to say that we also learn so much from host families and that we're given such a valuable experience.

Agua de Valencia

This is late!

Valencia is famous for its paella and oranges!! (unfortunately, I never got to taste the famous agua de Valencia, which I think is a mixture of champagne and orange juice and vodka)

 Last weekend, I went on a trip to Valencia with the program. The city is like a cross between Alcalá and Barcelona because it's has a bigger city-feel than Alcalá, but it's less "cold" and cosmopolitan than Barcelona. For our tour with Professor Arturo, we visited a lot more cathedrals and towers with beautiful views of the city:

View of Valencia from Torres de Serranos

Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe

One part of Valencia that's so interesting is the Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias. It's like this futuristic looking group of buildings that has a science museum and Europe's biggest aquarium, El Oceanográfico:

hello there =)

 ...and then my camera ran out of batteries. =(

P.S. SPRING BREAK PEOPLE: Hope all of you are having a GREAT and AMAZING TIME!!! <3

벌써 지나간 48일...남은 89일

어느새 내가 3개국어를 하는 사람이 돼었다. 물론 그 정도는 아니지만, 사람들은 나를 그렇게 본다. 그리고 어느새 나에게 미국은 외국이 돼었고, 한국은 내 본국이 돼었다. 어느새 내 입에서 "안녕"이 아닌, "hello"도 아닌, "hola"가 생각없이 나온다. 그렇게 낯섰던 길도 난 이젠 혼자 잘 다닌다. 자주 가는 카페에 웨이터도 이젠 나를 알아본다.
지금, 나란 사람이 또 한번 변화가고있다.


haha trying out my Korean for the first time in a long time...and enjoying Big Bang's new album too. =)