My name is Brianna, and I am a recent university graduate from Canada. I decided to join the Meddeas Language Assistant Program because I was uncertain about which professional path I wanted to pursue. Now I’m here, and I’m loving it! But we can start at the beginning:
In early October of last year, I was spending hours every day researching what I could do next year as someone who had no specific career goals to aim for. All I knew was that I didn’t want to go to a higher-level university program right away. You see, I am an avid traveller. I did a semester of high school in France and a semester of university in Italy, among many shorter trips. I am no stranger to Europe. In fact, I am sort of like a desperate friend, and I’m constantly itching to go back.
My best friend mentioned that she may want to work in Spain for a year, so we began researching programs where we could do that. We stumbled upon Meddeas, which seemed right up my alley. I applied to be a Language Assistant here in Spain. As I finished my undergraduate degree and moved along with the selection process, I started to like the program more and more. Meddeas responded quickly to any questions I had, and I liked the structure of the year as well as their reliability.
When I finally got to the end of the selection process, I knew that this was the program I was hoping to do the most. Even still, I had no specific requirements regarding what I wanted my year to look like, so I told the interviewers to surprise me with my placement. In the end, I was placed at a school near Barcelona and with a host family! This was exciting; it’s close to a major airport, and I didn’t have to deal with finding a place to live on my own. I accepted this offer within the hour.
Having some direction for the year to come felt like a weight off my shoulders. I immediately got started on the visa process for Spain. This took many months and many (many) painstaking hours of preparation, but I was successful! Because I was staying with a host family, I didn’t have to do too much planning before my arrival, but I got in contact with the school and began preparing to move to Spain.
Now I’ve been here for a month, and I’ve been enjoying it immensely. For me, having a host family means that I’ve been able to integrate myself easily– I get homemade Spanish food every day, I live within walking distance of the school, and I have Spanish-practice partners! They have also shown me around the town and introduced me to many people here.
I was very, very nervous for my first day at school, but I had met some of the teachers before, and everyone welcomed me with open arms. My first few days were just observing, but by the second week, I was tasked with introducing myself through a presentation, and I began taking out small groups to do English speaking exercises. I am allowed to develop these exercises based on the curriculum provided by the teachers. Creativity is a must when I am teaching students of all ages in the school, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My journey to becoming a Language Assistant in Spain has led me to this point, and because of the immense support I’ve received from my host family and school staff, I’ve settled in quite well these past few weeks. I’m very excited to see what the future months hold!
Author: Brianna A.