I’m waiting at the airport in Madrid, Spain, for my suitcase, which has three months of my life packed into it. An airport clerk is speaking Spanish at 90 words per second, trying to explain how my luggage was somehow dropped in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
But when I try to communicate with him, something that I can only assume is supposed to resemble Mandarin comes out of my mouth. Terror grips me as I realize I spent all summer studying the wrong language.
Luckily, after this realization I wake up in Nampa, Idaho, to the sound of Michael Bublé telling me it’s a beautiful day and I need to be at work in an hour.
While this summer has definitely made my top 5 list with several off-trail hikes, rock climbing, cave exploration, a train ride murder mystery dinner and rafting the Payette River, none of that excitement compares to the anticipation of spending the semester in San Sebastián, Spain.
It seems like it was forever ago when I submitted the copious amounts of application papers and files to affirm my semester in the country I’ve wanted to visit since my freshman year of high school. Since then, I’ve wasted no time in telling anyone who will listen that I’m going to Spain and they are not.
The level of my sanity dropped significantly through this process. I went from holding up the line in the post office as I quadruple checked my visa application submission, to having heated conversations with myself in Spanish while mowing the lawn.
I’m pretty sure my family is going dropkick me if I say one more ‘¿Por qué no?’ The kids at my daycare have already started plugging their ears when I enthusiastically dance around them singing “Bailando” and “Diez Mil Maneras” (That’s what they get for singing “Frozen” songs to me all summer).
Despite all the excitement for my semester abroad, there is still a small part of me which hasn’t quite grasped that in less than a week my feet are going to be walking the streets of Madrid and a week later they will be squishing sand on the San Sebastián beach.
The feeling that is most surprising to me is how enthusiastic I am to actually be studying abroad. I can’t wait to step foot in Universidad del Pais Vasco and sit in my first Spanish class. Though I’m scared to death of not being able to understand a word the professor says, I’m excited for the opportunity to be completely submersed in another culture and language.
As I wait out these last few days, I’ll eat an early Thanksgiving dinner with my family, finish packing my suitcase and continue dreaming of Spain.
Emily Vaartstra can be reached at [email protected]