Becoming Jiennense: or, how one Masshole found a home in Jaén

There’s a popular saying here in Jaén – “se entra llorando y se sale llorando”. In other words, you arrive to Jaén in tears of desperation, asking yourself what in God’s name you’ve done to verge so far from your life’s path to have found yourself deep within Spain’s olive country on a sweltering 40C/100F […]

Writer’s block, life lessons, and six months in Spain

Last weekend, two of my friends who are spending this semester in Granada came to visit me (shout out to Lila and Nadia). We trekked through the winding streets of the old quarter up to the castle, ate tapas in one of the tascas, and shared a few coffees. It was nice being the “local […]

La cocina andaluza: eating my way through southern Spain

Disclaimer alert: I like Spanish food – I really do – but it is far from my favorite. Maybe I’ll get a lot of heat for starting off a post like this from Spaniard and non-Spaniard pals alike, but a girl’s gotta keep it real (al pan, pan y al vino, vino). I love a […]

A Day in the Life of this Meddeas Language Assistant

At the beginning of 2017 when I was researching auxiliar blogs and panicking about life post college, I came across a lot of posts in this style. They helped me to get an idea of the range of experiences one can have while working as a language assistant in Spain, soooo I’m writing one of […]

Lingua Files: my tried and true methods for learning Spanish

People are always asking me how I keep up with my Spanish. I’ve got to admit that it’s a bit of a challenge (use it or lose it), but I am a firm believer that it can be done through a combination of accountability, goal-setting, and telenovelas (jk about that last one…sort of). Whether you’re […]

Tranquilo, tío: how I’m trying to stay calm and be productive in the summer before Spain

I feel like I’ve been in a constant state of waiting since January. Fellow auxiliares, I feel you – no matter which program you’re teaching with in Spain, you’ve probably felt like ripping your hair out at least once. That’s why I’ve selected the title for this post (Calm down, dude for you non-Spanish speakers […]