Well, let me start off by saying welcome and thanks for visiting my blog. This is my first blog so I'm not really sure how it's supposed to go... but, I'll give it a try.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Chris and I'm 22 years old. I'm a college senior who is studying Spanish Education. In other words, I want to become a Spanish teacher. In May of 2008 I'm going to graduate from my university and enter the real world. The only thing is that I'm not sure yet if I'll be entering the real world in the USA or in Spain....

You see, I've studied Spanish since I was about 13 years old and have always been fascinated with Spain. I made a short trip there about three years ago and vowed to return for more time, which is exactly what I did last year when I studied abroad in Valladolid. Valladolid, for those of you who don't know, is located in Castilla y León, a more or less "central" part of the country. Anyway, I spent six months living in Spain, studying at La Universidad de Valladolid, and completing an internship with La Cruz Roja Española. I really loved my time abroad and really enjoyed the country and, when I left Spain after my six months of study, I knew that I wanted to live there for a more substantial amount of time after graduating from college.

So now I'm several months away from my college graduation and I'm trying to hash a plot to get back to Spain for something at least a little more "permanent" than a semester abroad. To you, this may sound crazy, but the truth is that I don't think it will be as hard as it sounds (at least I hope not). In fact, soon I'll be getting an application ready for a scholarship that would allow me to go to Spain for a year to teach English (with the possibility of staying there for a second year) so... I hope that comes together. In any case, I've created this blog so that you can track the progress I'm making on my "Spain Dream" throughout the year. I don't know, maybe you think I'm crazy, maybe I am crazy, but I've wanted to live in Spain ever since my first trip there and now I may finally have a chance to make that dream a reality; we'll have to see what happens....

Anyway, I have to get going for now. I hope you enjoy my poor attempt at a blog and I promise I'll try to post at least once a week as I plan my future in Spain. Please, feel free to leave your comments here or to use the link at the left of the page to send me an email. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Hasta la próxima,
--Chris
http://www.abroadinspain.com