September was crazy – something about moving to a different country, getting myself and my luggage to my Airbnb, and then finding a more permanent place to live – and it is difficult to characterize what exactly this experience was like. Of course, it’s all a little stressful, but really for the most part it was smooth sailing. Every person I met was so welcoming and helpful, in addition to the resources we had from Fulbright.
I absolutely hate goodbyes and see-you-laters, but the rest of the trip was fine to Madrid. Unfortunately, there was a small mathematical error in weighing my suitcase and I ended up paying some hefty luggage fees due to its overweight nature. Oh well. I really struggled with jet lag this trip, and I think I cried a little bit when I realized I had to walk across Pontevedra to get to my Airbnb from the train station. Once I got settled there, it helped immensely. Those first few days, as I wandered around and tried to get my bearings, there were one or two moments where I wondered “what am I doing?”
my literal first photo of Pontevedra 
see you later, Percy! 
see you later, GK and Papa 
hopefully see you in spain, see you later mom and dad! 
my first glimpse of the ría 
more of ponte!
settling in…
Starting to meet other people helped immensely, and it gave me an immediate sense of community and belonging. Having the people at the grocery store or the cafes recognize me and say hi was so nice, and it helped me feel very comfortable here (which is a super important feeling for me, and not something that always happens easily). Meeting the principal at my school and the head English teacher was wonderful, and it gave me a glimpse into the really neat environment and community at this school.
I met Amanda, a fellow Fulbright in Pontevedra, and she introduced me to Lindsay, an English teacher here in Ponte. Lindsay has helped us all so much, and I cannot believe how lucky we are that she and Amanda were put in contact with each other.
My first weekend in Pontevedra happened to be the city’s main festival, Feira Franca. Basically, it’s a huge festival where the whole city is transformed into its medieval self. There are decorations everywhere and local artisants set up carts and tents with local wares and stations to learn how to make various items as they would have in the Middle Ages. It was a little startling to have these decorations everywhere, as well as more and more people decked out in Renaissance-style garb as the weekend got closer (again I had been here for 48 hours maximum), but the energy was palpable! Lindsay invited me to join her and her boyfriend at her boyfriend’s family’s tent, and I’m so glad I did! They had a beautifully decorated tent set up with long tables, with plenty of food and drink to go around. We danced in the streets and followed the various traditional pipe and drum bands, dodging costumed dancers in dragon suits (I think?) as we went. It was quite a welcome!
After a few days here to settle in and to start the housing search, I went back to Madrid for Fulbright orientation. I spent the evening walking around Santiago de Compostela, and I sat in the Cathedral square for a while, trying to process all of this. Since I did parts of the Camino with my Creighton group in the spring of 2018, this is one of the most special places in the world for me; it is certainly a great place to go and think!
Fulbright orientation in Madrid was really well-run, and I greatly enjoyed meeting the different people and reveling in the camaraderie. Nobody else really knew what was happening, so it was refreshing to have that sense of solidarity, while realizing – it’s all going to be okay! Our “peer mentor” for my Galicia cohort is Katie, and she is awesome – we are so lucky to have her help give us advice and support and general motivation. Orientation was in Alcála de Henares, right outside of Madrid, and we had a little tour at the end to show us around…supposedly we saw the childhood home of Miguel Cervantes, but who knows for sure?!
After orientation, back in Pontevedra, the quest for housing continued. I had a stroke of luck after a few dead ends and found a great apartment with a beautiful terrace and an awesome roommate, Arantxa. I’m really happy to be living with a Spaniard, and she has endless patience as I learn.
Amanda and Kai are both in my Galicia cohort of Fulbright 
outside the alleged childhood home of Miguel Cervantes, author of Don Quixote
Slowly but surely, I need Google Maps less and less as I figure out how to get from one place to another. Meeting the other Fulbrighters in Pontevedra (and Galicia in general!) was so fun at orientation, and it obviously helped me start to make friends! The wider TA community in Pontevedra is so welcoming, and meeting my friend Caroline’s apartment-mates and their friends has been so much fun.
Something especially new has been having the beach close by – as in a 15 minute bus ride away! From home, the closest beach to us in Leavenworth is an 18-hour drive, so this is quite a nice scenery change. The weened before school started, Amanda and I went to the beach in Marín, a town just outside of Pontevedra that is further out on the ría (a río is a river, but the rías- which are famous in this area – are kind of like bays, more or less). It is simply stunning. There were some other people at the beach, but it was nowhere near crowded. It was fairly hot, and there were a handful of people in the water; however, the water was absolutely FRIGID and I was only able to find a few shells through the clear water before I couldn’t feel my feet and I said enough.
Marín
so, why am I here?
Of course, the whole point of me being here is to be a teaching assistant. School started mid-September, and it has been so much fun. My school is in a coastal town that apparently turns into a resort town in the summer, called Sanxenxo (or Sanjenjo, en castellano). The school is a secondary school, so it’s a mix of American middle and high schools. There is no upper level bachillerato here, so my students are ages 12-16. I “preferenced” high school in my Fulbright application, and I was a little nervous to be working in a school where there were more middle school aged students than I originally anticipated. I must say, I LOVE it.
Since the school is about a 30 minute drive away, I commute through a combination of bus and riding with other teachers. Actually, my first official day was an in-service and the bus ended up being late, which meant I was late arriving at the station, so Susanna the secretary swooped in to rescue me and picked me up at the station, saving me the extra walking time and preventing me from being abysmally late. Everyone was so kind and the teachers I work with – Alejandro, Carmen, and Isabel – are wonderful.
The students were so funny to meet and are FULL of energy, which is both invigorating and challenging. There are days that I want to apologize to any and all teachers I have ever had!!! Especially during the first couple of weeks, they were so clearly curious about me but also terrified to actually interact with me. However, they get so excited when I walk into the room and it’s heartwarming. My first lessons were obviously my AboutMe presentations, and it was so fun to tell them about Leavenworth and Creighton and my family and friends! They simply did not believe that John (my brother) is 6’8”.
the beach across from my school 
looking back towards scho
final thoughts
what I am excited for:
- living in Spain?
- Galician food
- exploring Galicia
- going to the beach frequently
- meeting new friends
- learning how to be more independent
- maybe some cool and fun research?
- obvi many more things
what grateful for :
- my airbnb host
- finding an apartment
- my school – students and faculty
- my family
- old friends – all of your messages have meant the world, thank you thank you thank you!
- new friends – I am meeting such wonderful people, and I am genuinely amazed by the warmth and welcoming spirit I continually encounter
- my Creighton professors who encouraged me to apply and who supported me during the application process (ok really throughout college, but also specifically during that semester)
- many other people and things but for sanity I’ll stop here
my fulbright year 