Learning languages

Hi everybody, once again welcome to my blog. Today I wanted to do this post in english in order to show the importance of languages to the world as well because I was requested to do so by many of my friends who are international and don't speak any spanish.

First of all I wanted to tell you guys how I started learning english and how was that journey and how it changed me.

All started in 2-year-old-class, that's how spaniards call pre-pre-k, because yes, we do have pre-pre-kindergarten. In the school I went to, english was one of the most important subjects , so by age five I already knew all the colours, animals, random objects and the alphabet in english; as well to some sentences like "Hello, my name is... etc". Even though english was a very important part of my life, at that age I didn't think about it that much, because for me it was pretty normal to study 3 languages at the same time.

It all clicked for me when in third of primary (third grade) we had a different teacher, a tougher one which made us study a lot more than usual. That's the time I really realized that my friends from outside school weren't studying english as much as I did, and their schools didn't seem to care as much either. And I realized that I wasn't studying just to have knowledge but to communicate with others who didn't speak my language so that's why my teacher was always so demanding, beacuse she really wanted to prepare us for the world.

I still remember how much I struggled with the spelling, not because I didn't know how to spell but because I wasn't quick enough whenever I needed to spell orally. The vowels were the worst. If your mother tongue is spanish you know the real struggled between "e" and "i".

Now all seems like a piece of cake. The test that I failed because I didn't know the difference between "on", "in" and "under" opened my eyes. For me now it's hard to believe how could I failed such an easy test! There were literally 3 words but somehow I managed to do it and I was so embarrased that I started dedicating myself to english more and more. I would say all the verbs I knew out loud, like the verb "To be" which was my personal favourite.

In 4th grade I was confident enough to take the Cambridge test "Starters" which I passed, then in 5th grade I took "Movers" and in sixth, "Flyers". To be honest, these three tests were so so easy, so I was super happy about it. I felt like a native speaker... Oh dear how wrong I was.

By first of E.S.O which is 7th grade, things changed. For those who don't know, in Spain we start high school in 7th grade. We are more independent and we are asked to do everything by ourselves. This year we were meant to take another Cambridge test, the A2. I didn't take. The tests changed so much I was shooked so instead I studied really hard so next year I could do one more level, the B1 and I did it and I passed it. Everything was so great in 2nd (8th grade in USA) but unfortunately all that joy fade away.

Third of E.S.O. (9th grade) was a really rough year for me. A lot of bad things happened to me that year until the point I wanted to disappear. My mom gave me the perfect escape, an exchange year to the USA, so at the age of fourteen I applied to go to another continent.

July 20th 2015 i left my home, my family, my city, my country just to go to Texas to study english. I'm not gonna talk here in depth about the exchange because I'm thinking on doing it in another post, but trust me guys on this, that was the best year of my life by far.

Not only did I learn english which was the main objective but I also found me as well. Who I wanted to be, how I wanted to live, who I wanted to be surrounded by , how amazing and impredictable the future was and how many opportunities life was giving me. I lived my life to the fullest. I wasn't asleep anymore, I wasn't dreaming with my eyes open, I was living.

English gave me the opportunity to meet amazing people from all around the globe, from Texas to Minnesota. From The Netherlands to Norway. From Japan to South Korea. Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Taiwan, Thailand, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Mexico just naming a few and I realized how amazing the world is and how many wonders it hides just ready to be seen by us, the travelers and anytime I saw a different language, oh man, I just wanted to learn it right away. Their culture, their traditions, their history... English is just no longer enough for me, I want more and the world is out there screaming for me. Screaming to make me a traveler once again, and I for sure will not resist its call.

Yours sincerely,

Cris