ILE graduation!

After eight months, today I graduated from language school!  It's hard to believe I've been going to school for 20 hours a week since January, commuting to the other side of San Jose every day.  I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to learn the language and to grow, as a speaker, as a student, and as a missionary.

Langauge teaches you a lot of things, most of which have nothing to do with language.  Humility.  Determination.  Grace.  Time management.  Patience.  Persistence.  These are just a few of the things I learned.  I am so grateful for the friends in my classes -- laughing and crying together as we tried to master our second language.  I am grateful for my sweet teachers who loved and encouraged me.  Who believed in me.  And who invested in me because they believed it was their mission to equip me with the skills of Spanish language and grammar.

Class selfie on the last day

So the popular question is, "How's your Spanish?"  And that's always a hard question to answer.  I mean, I graduated, so one could argue pretty good.  But, there is always so much more you could know when it comes to language.  I definitely know more than when I started and I definitely feel more confident speaking, which is huge.  People always want to know about fluency, and that is not something I am willing to claim until I sound native, accent and all!  Haha.  So highly conversational, yes.  Fluent, no.  But I am excited to have two more years to learn and communicate in this wonderful language!

My host-mom, Mayra, came to my graduation along with the Area Director, Jessie.  Thanks for your support, ladies!  Also, this graduation day marks 364 days in Costa Rica!  Hard to believe it's been almost a year already!  Looking forward to two more, but first, a quick trip to the USA!!

Classmates Laura (L) and Amy (R)

Jessie (Area Director) and I