viernes, 24 de septiembre de 2010

Future, so far away... yet so close!

Future is something so undefinied! I'm not someone who changes her mind constantly or who is not sure about what to do in the future... Even though I have changed my mind in some important decisions in my life... luckily, always for good. As a little girl (and just like any other little kid) I used to say I wanted to be an astronaut... then a veterinarian... and then a midwife. I was really determined about this last one, until I found out I would have to study science for that... And sciences are just not my thing. I once thought of being an English teacher, but then the father of an old friend said I'd have no future, since everyone wanted to become an English teacher nowadays... So I changed my mind and decided I'd be a psycologist. Even though I was pretty sure about my desition, I felt that something was missing. When I was 17, I had to apply for my University entrance exams, and so I did and luckily passed them all. But just some few weeks before the exams, a close friend of mine told me she wanted to study Translation. I was so surprised, because I thought that my passion for languages and foreign cultures was just a hobby... But when I heard about that option, a whole range of possibilities opened in front of my eyes. That was it! I was going to be a Translator! All of my questions were now answered... Why I had always loved to translate songs into Spanish, or watched movies in English just to see what the translator had done with the script in my own language... Everything I thought was just a hobby (or something kind of freak, honestly) was just possible! It had been in front of my eyes for all my life and I had just never seen it. So when I told my friends about this very sudden and hasty desition, I was glad when I saw Nicole's satisfaction face and said: I'm glad you've noticed yourself what you really are good at and what really suits you. This gave me the little bit of determination I needed, so I told my parents about it. Even though my dad was a little confused in the beginning, they both understood and immediately helped me with everything. I was happy to start my new student life and it felt good to choose my own way. You know, me and my best friend were going to study Psycology together, but now the desition was mine alone, and I'd have to start this new journey by myself. And I loved it! So here I am now, 4 years later, starting my last year of University. I've known some fantastic people who share the same interests as me, and I've learnt a lot from them. I can say this was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Now, why am I telling you this? Because for the last year (and specially, the last months) me and my friends have been thinking about our future. What will come after our bachelor at University? Again the same hard questions just like 4 years ago... By now, I know I want to study a Master of Spanish Teacher as Foreign Language (so I'd teach Spanish to people who can't speak it). But now the question is: where? In Barcelona? Or in Salamanca? (Somewhere in the middle of Spain). Well, I'd have no problems about moving to Salamanca for one year, I'm willing to do it. But what if I'm not selected? There's place for only 40 people, so what if I'm not one of these? This question actually terrifies me, since I think I've found the right thing for me to study... So I've been thinking and searching, and I've found many other possibilities -you know, a B plan!-. One of them (the one I'm most excited about!) is studying a Dutch & Translation Postgraduate Program in Hogeschool Ghent, in Belgium. It'd be perfect to move to Belgium after my studies, work and get my Dutch degree (and why not, a Postgraduate degree too!) and finally live with my boy, Kristof.

So that's it by now, sorry about the rambling speech I have just given, but I needed to express it somehow, to someone!

Now let's wait and see what future will bring...

Judi*

Questions, questions, questions... Options.

jueves, 23 de septiembre de 2010

Penpalling

I am lucky to have such great friends over the world. I started snail-mailing back when I was 14, but then I used to write only with people across Spain. I had always wanted to find penpals, but Internet wasn't as advanced or internationally spread as it is now, so I had no clue where to find some new friends from other countries. One day, I found a website where I could chat with people across the world! I was impressed so I started to do it very often, since I wanted to know more about other cultures and languages. The website was jippi.com and actually, after 1 year chatting with random people, I found the boy who would later become my boyfriend :) After trying some penpal websites, I lost the hope of eventually finding some real friend... I had actually joined a website called polyglot, where I found one of my best friends Daniela, from Switzerland. I can't describe our relationship, it's like we were meant to be friends. Apart from that, I was dissapointed because I could not find any other penpal... But then it happened! I discovered Interpals and thanks to that, now I have some real good friends. I have had the chance of meeting some of them for real (like Rima from Lithuania or Vendy from Czech Republic and her nice friend Sarka), so that makes me deeply happy. However, I know there are small chances of meeting some of my other friends who live really far away, but that doesn't stop our friendship to become closer and stronger (like with Charm, from Philippines). I hope someday I'll get to meet most of them... It's a matter of time (and money), but they know they have a place in my house if they want to come visit me.

You may be wondering why I am writing this? Well, because I am very thankful to my friends Daniela, Rima, Stefania and Helena, who have sent some birthday presents for me. It's really sweet from them and I can't thank them enough!

In general, I love you all and I hope we have the chance to meet someday.

Much love,

Judi
Wearing my Greek friends Stefania and Helena's presents :)

Wearing my Lithuanian penpal Rima's earrings. Lovely present!


WELCOME!

Hello everyone. I have just remembered that I already had a blogger account, due to some project we needed to do back in 2006. Since some of my penpals have started their own blogs, I thought it'd be great to share some thoughts with you... I can't promise I'll write often, because I get easily bored of this, but I'll try my best.


So feel free to comment!

Love

Judi