1/2 way point.

I am not going to lie, sugar coat nor sweeten the life of being an Au Pair. Leaving my friends and family and coming to live in a foreign country at 18 has been one of the most tiring, frustrating, scariest but most rewarding, amazing, breath taking and most unbeatable things I have ever done. Like I said I will not lie nor sugar coat the life of an Au Pair, for example, since I began living in such proximity with a 6 year old and 8 year old, I have pretty much said "adios" to my privacy, I have to accept that there is no "one moment" or "wait one second!" it is all "now, now and now." If I ever want to go to my room for some quiet time to recuperate and indulge myself in the happenings of social media it will take approximately 1.20381 seconds before one of them notices my absence. I am on the go about 4-6 hours a day, 6 days a week and I am completely and utterly exhausted. No one told me it was going to be this hard, but no one told me it was going to be easy, no one told me it would be tiring,  BUT.. no one told me how rewarding it would be. Since moving here I have made an unbreakable bond with these children in which is going to make so incredibly difficult to say goodbye in August. The improvement in English in these kids since I have arrived is really quite amazing, if you look at it in retrospect, some days I wonder if I really am getting anywhere with them and other days I am so incredibly proud of them and sometimes taken aback when they say words I never realized they had picked up from me. For example Mario said he was "extremely exhausted" yesterday, for English speaking people that seems like nothing, but for a little guy who really never speaks English, those words are pretty complex and I am not going to lie, I took a good 5 minutes to let it sink in. ;) Every day I play with them, their laughs, and even their voices remind me exactly why I am here and do nothing but highlight my day.

Other than spending time running after little kids and making sure they are happy 24:7 I also have time off to explore this amazing country. A few weeks ago (cannot believe its been a few weeks, time is going by so quickly!) 3 other girls and I went to Madrid for Easter. It was amazing, I really cannot tell you in writing how breath taking the trip was. The food was incredible, the site seeing was unbeatable and the night life was crazy. I was originally supposed to be going to Madrid, and as much as it would have been great to live there, the city was also crazy overwhelming and a lot to take in, there was just so much happening every where.

             I believe Ourense is a great place for me to begin, a small town where I will find it easier to improve my Spanish (literally everyone in Madrid could speak English to us) Ourense is also more calmer, and I find it much easier to feel at home here. I know I made the right choice by coming here, and I recommend "Au Pairing" to any young traveler who wants to travel to a foreign country and gain experience, I am not guaranteeing that you will enjoy it and I am not guaranteeing that it will be suitable for everyone as I said, it is hard and it is not all glamorous but it has helped me change my outlook and perspective on SO many things and it is a challenge that I will accomplish and it is a challenge I will be accepting again.

Sorry for the extreme lack of updates lately, time is flying 531841905 miles per hour and I find it so hard to believe that 1. It is May next week and 2. I have been gone for 4 months, which OFFICIALLY means I am at the HALF WAY point in my amazing adventure! I have made so many new friends and memories here it is unreal! How did come about so quickly?! But i want to thank everyone who's been reading and interested in my experiences and happenings!

Ciao!