While a student in Madrid, Spain for three and a half years back in the late eighties and early nineties, I attended a number of schools to learn Spanish. I first attended classes at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, then went to the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas, and finally the Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana.

As a scholar of the Spanish Government, I could attend any public school in any city anywhere in Spain. I don't think there was any question as to where I wanted to live back then, Madrid was it. Although I could speak Spanish rather well by the time I landed at the Barajas International Airport last September 1987, I can recall being on a bus back to my dorm from University one night during my first month and all I could understand from all the Spanish students chatting all around me was SI and nothing else. I also found them talking way too fast. I even complained explicitly to one employee at Citibank close to where I lived how fast they all spoke for my comfort. That was during my first two weeks away from home. Fast forward decades to the present, I can honestly say that such experience makes me smile. As for my knowledge of Spanish, it has gotten better over the years. In fact, I was even admitted to Spain's oldest and most prestigious university, the Universidad de Salamanca, where I ultimately received my Master's in Spanish Language and Culture last 2004. I do love the language so much I can't stop studying it nor speaking it. I speak it on a daily basis in school all day long. In fact, there are times when I even translate literally from Spanish to English confusing Marc, my partner, every so often when we talk.