What Am I Even Doing with My Life?

Before I jump into a short testimonial of why I am even writing this blog post - let me introduce myself: My name is Christianne Grist. Christianne is pronounced like Christian but with Anne at the end and Grist is pronounced like Christ. This information is not super important but this is an introduction so... I recently graduated in May with a degree that trained me in filmmaking and I minored in Spanish. That being said, I am going to Spain to teach this coming Fall. As these post go on, I am sure I will give you more fun facts about my life but until then, let's jump into why I am going to Spain.

If you had asked me at the beginning of my Senior year of college last year: "What are your plans for next year?" I would have nervously laughed and given a vague answer about starting to pursue my dream job - writing and directing my own films and TV shows. I would have never even guessed that I would be moving to a whole other country to teach English - which somedays I feel as though I can barely speak. However, life is a funny thing and as I look back the past four years have been leading to this moment.

Freshman year, a bright-eyed, 18-yearr-old me went off to college three and a half hours away from where my parents and my childhood home were (Middle Georgia). I was ready to find out what my life held for me and excited at the prospect of learning more about myself and my future. For my major (BA Communication Studies Digital Production), I was required to take four foriegn language classes - seeing as I had two 'years' of Spanish classes under my belt from Middle School I decided to take Spanish. Well, lo and behold, it only took six Spanish classes to get a minor, so I decided to take the extra two classes and obtain my minor.

Fast-forward to the summer after my Sophmore year and I am on a missions trip in Orlando. What does the ministry I am working for do? They work specifically with the tourist of the area, so that summer I worked with a lot of European children - falling in love with their accents, different idealogies, and their stories of their homes. 

Junior year I was still try to figure out what the heck I was doing with my life and also writing and filming my Senior film - on top of almost getting my first B in a college class - Spanish 3. That was the class we were learning about all of the different verb tenses and although I was interested, I was more interested in getting my film shot. I had an incredible professor who taught me Spanish throughout my years at Shorter and with her patience an amazing teaching, I can say that I am (not fluent) okay at communicating in the language. The second semester of my Junior year is when everyone's life got turned upside down and a virus swept over, not only our nation, but the world. We were send home, and looking back, I am thankful for the months I got to spend with my family as I embark on this new journey. 

The professor I mentioned before is to blame when it comes to why I am going to Spain in the first place. She has lived all over the world and speaks several languages - inspiring, really. As I heard her stories, I realized something - I wanted to be like that. I wanted to travel and have friends all over the world. So, my Senior year, I decided that I wasn't going to only look for oppurtunites in America, but broaden my scope to the whole world. I also decided that I wanted to become completely fluent in Spanish and I don't know if the Google robots were listening or there was a Divine intervention (probably both), but I found CIEE and started researching their Teach in Spain Program. 

That leads to six months later to me, sitting in my bed, writing this Introduction post. Reading the blogs from people who have done the program helped me make a decision on whether I wanted to go to Spain or not - and I hope it helps you decide too, whether it is Spain, South Korea, or anywhere else in the world. I am now currently a little over a month away from getting on an airplane, and although I am nervous - I am also exstatic to see what the year holds.