Seven Months Have Passed... ~ Happening With Hillary

Well, it is hard to believe that I have already been back in the United States for two months longer than my duration in Spain. I certainly miss my friends and family that I made in Granada apart from the beautiful scenery, food, and Spanish culture, but I have enjoyed being back home as well. My first semester of my junior year is coming to a close, and I can honestly say that this semester was definitely one of my favorites (besides Spain of course, I do not think any semester can ever top it). All of my classes really seemed to overlap and relate well with one-another, and I found myself making awesome comparisons and expanding information from one class and utilizing it within another course. I would like to continue writing in my blog because I think it is a good way to keep memories (and I am much more likely to remember to update a blog than to write everything down in a journal). Anyway, back to this semester. I loved having a lot of my fellow Spain study-abroaders in my classes this semester, and reminiscing with them and talking about our wonderful memories helped ease the feeling of nostalgia. I also met two other girls who are from Salamanca, Spain, and we have become pretty good friends, so they are fun to practice Spanish with and compare cultures and our experiences in each other's countries! I am glad that they will be returning next semester as wellWe are all certainly planning on going back to Granada, hopefully in the not-so-distant future! Like I said earlier, my classes this semester really intrigued me. I have become extremely interested in language acquisition/linguistics, and through my Linguistics course and my Child and Adolescent Growth & Development course, I have been thinking about potential Master's programs after receiving my undergraduate degree. I would love to pursue something in Sociolinguistics or Psycholinguistics, because I am very intrigued by how the brain acquires language during the different stages of development, and these two courses really went hand-in-hand in further developing my interest in these areas. Who knows, though!? I could end up anywhere. Everything seems to have interested me this semester - I am lucky to have had some pretty awesome professors this semester. My Hispanic-American Culture class was also interesting (at times...). While I must admit that this course was not my favorite, I still obviously love the Spanish language and variety of cultures that it encompasses. My passion for teaching this language is quite strong, and became even stronger during my C&I 212 course about "Issues in Secondary Education," where we tackled issues such as English-Language Learners, poverty, bullying, school funding, and other "sore subjects". It all became very real, but it just made my passion to teach even greater. However, I would love to receive my Master's degree, and hopefully (eventually) a Ph.D and become a university professor. Before getting into the business of teaching and furthering my education, I have been considering an experience to live and teach abroad for a few years. We will see what happens! I have to focus on the present moment, and I have no worries that my future will work itself out for the best. For now I need to worry about getting through the rest of my finals (which I am supposed to be studying for right now, but decided to write in my blog instead!). Next semester will be quite the busy one as well, with fifteen credit hours, a research project with a well-respected faculty member, and another honors project to complete. Furthermore, many of my classes require observation and volunteer hours, and I will be helping a teacher at U-High as a part of my lab portion in one of my Curriculum and Instruction courses. Late into first semester I got back into tutoring for the ESL courses at Heartland Community College (I had been helping last fall as well before I left for Spain). It feels really good to get back into it and help out when I can, especially since it relates to my major and minor. I love doing it and it further confirms my passion and desire to become an educator!

Furthermore, I digress back to Spain... I have been keeping in contact with Carmen (my host mom) on a monthly basis through telephone calls and sending her occasional packages with photos and what not. Unfortunately, her son Luis passed away shortly before Thanksgiving. He had been very ill and in and out of the hospital beforehand and all throughout my time in Spain, and he became very ill again this fall. I admire Carmen's strength because she has also been recovering from chemotherapy and dealing with her own health concerns. I wish I could be there for her to provide support, but I do the best that I can halfway across the country! Other than that, my life has been busy filling time with a social life and running every morning as always. I think I would go crazy if I did not run six days a week, it is definitely a great way to cope with stress. I am looking forward to going home and spending time with my family, friends, but most importantly my dog Cooper during winter break! As much as I love school (I really do love it to death), I think taking a break from everything for a month will do my mind and body good. I will try and update more frequently, because I really have missed writing about my life. I will post a few photos from my semester thus far (some of them aren't showing up, so I will fix this later):