Beunos Aries, Argentina

I'm not quite sure when the decision hit me to learn spanish. I can't say I was entirely interested in it growing up. I had briefly learned it at a very young age [perhaps when i was between 6-9 years old] while attending a day care since it was mandatory. I had enjoyed it well enough while learning it. My favorite word while learning it, if I recall correctly,  was desk: escritorio. But even still, after I stopped having lessons in it when i attended public school, I didn't really care about it enough to pursue learning the language further; and as a result I forgot pretty much all knowledge of what i had obtained. 

 In high school I rejected the thought of learning it yet again; my reason this time was that I thought that learning french would be far more interesting. Others argued learning french wasn't as valuable as learning spanish. "When are you going to use french? No one in America uses it anyway. Take spanish." After 3 years of struggling through french, I regretted not taking spanish only because I could've cheated more easily. 

 It strikes me as a little bit odd now that I'm in college that I want to learn spanish so badly. Earlier last semester I took the last remaining $30 that I had in my account and purchased Living Language Spanish training/learning guide. The basics of coarse. Although I wasn't able to get around to administering time to learn the language during last semester; but over the coarse of the winter break, it's pretty much all that i've been learning... besides you know... the usual about the 1968 Demonstrations of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and now about Branding and such things. 

 It's funny how things work though. I think much of my resistance to learning the spanish language was mainly because I never thought I'd really need it. I love to travel and through most of my life the plan was to live abroad. That plan was mainly just for Europe though; and although Spain is in europe, I never really thought. At most I assumed I would go there for a visit or two. For the most part though, all of my travel focus was on Europe.

 It wasn't until I saw the film Motorcycle Diaries that I even began to think about traveling to Central and South America. Suddenly the prospect of seeing Chile, Brazil, and Argentina seems alluring. 

 Even still, while looking at places to study abroad my focus was in Europe. I said to myself,"I've got to go some place they speak english. It's one thing to live there; but when you're studying in a foreign country and your grades depend on you understanding the language to get through another courses, that's another." Somewhere along the line, my thought process and focus changed. I began looking at Spain to study. Barcelona and Madrid where the main cities in which I wished to study, as I don't believe I could personally survive in a small town. Later my focus changed to Madrid as it was said to be the more artistic town. I had become animate to live in a country in which spanish was spoken. Because of this, I was given a real drive and reason to learn as much spanish as I could.

 One day while home Dallas over break, as custom, I sat in the living room with my mother watching HGTV as she drifted in and out of conciseness. Program after program played on the tv as I sat there with her All of programs that i could care less about, but still I didn't change it. Suddenly one that sparked my interest House Hunters International. "International?! I've never seen this one." And so I watched on. On the first one, a retired gay couple from the states were looking to buy a new apartment in Spain finding that after living in the first one they'd owned wasn't up to what they were hoping for they were searching for a new one. Over the coarse of the program, along with apartments, promising images of warm aired climates and beautiful beaches paired with wandering cobbled stone streets and alleyways played across the screen. It looked wonderful to say the least. 

 After that episode aired, another came on. This time another couple from the states were looking to purchase another home. Apparently they'd fallen in love with a city in Argentina named Beunos Aries. I'd never heard of it before. They called it "the paris of latin america".  It too looked fantastic and exciting though.

 A week or two after viewing that episode, on a whim I began looking at programs in Beunos Aries, Argentina. People that know me well know that when i set my mind to something, i'm pretty dauntless. I dive in head first. So needless to say, at this moment, I'm pretty bent on studying there. I told my mom about it... and although i know she's supportive, she's also [i guess] nice enough to let me know not to get my hopes too high... because after depending on what happens, this could NOT happen.

 Everything rides on what columbia says. Meaning that I have to talk to both my advisor and also to the international studies department [aka the studying abroad department] and see if Columbia would accept the credits that I'd earn while studying abroad. I also need to find out weather or not if I go weather I'd still be on track for graduation. My parents will only pay for 4 years of college so I have to try to make it as close to four years as possible. 

 If I do go to Beunos Aries, I'm going to have to sacrifice alot. If I go, I won't be able to stay in chicago this summer and if I go year round that means that I won't have the chance to see my nephew or my family as much. If I go this also means that I will be letting Cat down... she has all these plans to live with me next year and all this stuff. But I've been planing to live/study abroad since before I ever met her [in person]. It's a bout a 4 and a half year plan at this point... just needs to be fulfilled. Not to mention that if I go, I might just want to not even bother changing my major to photography as the college that I'd probably be going to (if I go with the program that i've been looking at) only has film as far as i'm aware. Maybe i should just wait till I get the catalogue from the program.

But yeah, long story short... much sacrifice will happen. I will let down cat, but at some point I need to do the things I promised my self I would do, and do something about this tugging at my heart. But idk this is something i've gotta do. Plus, these things only happen one in a life time. I've gotta do it. I've got to fight to do it.