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This past week, I had the realization that balancing new, challenging, and potentially intimidating situations with familiar activities strengthens my sense of confidence and affirms my sense of independence. This might seem pretty obvious, but I hadn’t realized it until I was at the Estadio Municipal de Butarque in Leganés to watch Leganés play against Atlético de Madrid, wondering how I could feel such a sense of elation watching two football teams that I’ve never had a stake in play each other, alone, while surrounded by strangers in a stadium an hour away from my apartment. When I go to a game at a new stadium, I only know one thing: that I’m about to see 90 minutes of football. Anything extra is unknown and the possibilities are just about limitless. I recommend language assistants teaching abroad to try new things, put themselves out of their comfort zone, and find activities to do that feed their interests and encourage both personal and professional growth.

Once a week after school, I’ve been working in a lab in the Real Jardín Botánico studying the crayfish plague pathogen Aphanomyces astaci. So far, this has involved editing a project proposal (in English), transferring pieces of agar and mycelia onto new plates so they can continue growing, DNA extractions, and polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) in order to amplify certain segments of A. astaci DNA. None of these procedures are very complex or difficult to execute, nonetheless, getting to perform them in Spanish forces me to practice patience and improve my speaking in more formal situations than I’m used to. It can be tiring to do lab work in Spanish, but I always come away with a sense of accomplishment that I wouldn’t feel as strongly if I were doing it in my first language.

The differences between my visits to Madrid have been most largely influenced not by the classes, projects, or work that I’m doing, but by my confidence and independence. Having these opportunities that constantly challenge me and introduce me to new people and ideas are turning out to be one of the most valuable parts of this experience. 

A postcard hanging on my bulletin board reminds me each morning, siempre dar lo mejor de ti. As I enter the last five months of teaching, tutoring, working in the lab, writing, and traveling, I hope to both give and get the most out of these activities that I can.