Archive for Michael Patterson
Changing My Mind
I remember values that I used to associate with myself, values that I was proud of and wanted everyone to know about me. I used to say ¨”time is money and time is short”, “About time”, “working hard or hardly working”. These sayings have undoubtedly had some influence on my life. Yet it never occurred […]
Levels of Integration
Levels of Integration I had one goal in coming to Spain: To integrate to the point of authenticity. The time I have spent here so far has shown me that there are many factors to integration and that it may be impossible to reach certain aspects of that goal within just year. For example, my […]
Traveling light
The sun here is different. It rises and falls at new times and the heat burns in different ways. Spending time in the sun takes the energy away from me but I not like in Houston, and not like in St. Peter. The sun is affecting me in ways that I cannot write. I could […]
Orientations is over
The entire first week of this program has been quite enjoyable. It was orientation in CIEE and basically for me it was just a week long vacation. We spent the days touring the city and the nights going to bars and clubs. Wash, rinse, repeat, all with other CIEE group members, all the time. After […]
Baby Steps
Now that everything has been settled It’s story time. My first and most dreaded blip occurred within minutes of getting off the plane. They lost my luggage. Before coming here, I wanted to do everything myself. In order to immerse I knew that it would have to hurt a little. For that purpose I had […]
Checking Out
When I got the acceptance letter to spend a year in Sevilla ,Spain I started counting down the days until the flight. In one hundred fifty six days I would officially be living, not visiting as some tourist, but living, eating, reading, writing, speaking, everything as a Spanish student. It was a day I dreamt […]