Maybe you heard me

...but probably you didn't. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't. After all, I said it a lot inside my head, but not so often out loud.

"One of these days I want to take six months off and go learn Spanish somewhere."

Well, I was close. I'm taking five months off.
 

This Sunday morning my flight leaves for Santiago, Chile, then a 90-minute bus ride brings me to the coast and my final destination: four months of Spanish immersion in Viña del Mar. No, I'm not going as part of a program or organization; I'm just going. I will put comida on the table by working as an assistant in a preschool, but as far as I'm concerned my primary job will be learning Spanish.


When I share my plans with people, a common reaction is envy: "Take me with you!" I'm here to tell you it's not hard. You can do it, too! Here is a simple step-by-step guide to planning your own South American lingual getaway. Soon you, too, may find yourself booking tours to penguin colonies and bookmarking dates for vineyard harvest fiestas and wondering when this became your life.

1. Hit your breaking point. Doesn't matter why, doesn't matter how, as long as you know deep in your soul that making an insanely big change is the only sane option.
2. Find a friend who needs the same thing. Preferably she is someone you can picture spending a lot of time with over the next 4 months, and enjoying it.
3. Leave your professional job at a stable place of  employment. In my case a leave of absence was an option, but I think I may have quit if HR said no. And this from a person who generally likes her job (but see #1).
4. Move out of your house, put your stuff in storage, and move into your parents' basement, because you certainly can't afford US rent on what you'll be making in Chile.
5. Have an incredibly supportive family. This is valuable for many reasons, but it's a must when you rely on various members to let you move out of their rental house in the middle of winter, take care of your aging dog, and put you up in their basement before and after the trip.
6. Have incredibly supportive friends who celebrate your decision. Ideally, they will mix in just enough "we'll miss you!" to assure you that they are not celebrating your actual absence.
7. Be willing to not speak the language well for a while, to not know exactly where you're going to live, to not know what you don't know. Just be willing.
8. Be excited. If anything in #3-7 fills you with dread or stomach pits, this may not be the time for your South American lingual getaway. I can honestly say that I did not hesitate to take any of these steps, which gives me a lot of peace about the whole process. Logistics have taken effort, but the choices were easy.
9. Pray, if you're the praying type. Lots of thanks for everything on this list, even the hard ones (every reaction needs a catalyst), and especially thanks for #5 and #6. Thanks for the grace that got you this far, and for all the grace you're going to need by the end. 

So there it is! How to Make a Change and Learn Spanish All at the Same Time, in 9 simple steps!

Think it'll catch on?