¿Quién soy yo?

I’m McKenna! Welcome to my blog.

I started this blog in October 2019 as a way to document my experience in Madrid, Spain. Initially, I wrote about my current and previous travels. Over time, this blog has changed from a travelogue to a public diary of my reflections, personal growth, and following one’s dreams, set among the backdrop while living abroad.

How did this globe-trotting journey start? Let’s go back to the nineties . . .

1998: It started in Arizona

I took my first plane trip when I was almost 8 to visit my grandmother in Arizona. I still remember how excited I was when my mother told me we were going. I was going to go on a plane! I didn’t think kids were allowed on planes for some reason. And I was going to go on the other side of the country. It seemed like an eternity away from Michigan.

Since I was only 8, I don’t remember much. But I remember the palm trees, which I thought only existed in cartoons. I remember wearing summer clothes in February. I remember seeing the Spanish-style rooftops. And I’ll never forget that feeling of the plane taking off, and feeling like I was in heaven in the clouds.

It would be many years before I flew on a plane again, but I knew that that was what I wanted to do with my life: fly on planes and see new places.

Fast forward to 2012: Argentina and Chile

Four days after I turned 22, I flew to Rosario, Argentina to study Spanish for a semester. My plan was to stay for three months. I’d never been away from my family for more than a week, and had never left the country (besides Canada, which is an hour away from my hometown). All I knew was my small hometown in metro Detroit.

After culture shock, language barriers far more difficult than I had imagined, going to clubs for the first time, traveling throughout Argentina with friends on the weekends and meeting people in hostels from all over the world, and skydiving in Uruguay, I felt like I was starting to get the hang of being a traveler.

And then a dinner conversation in Mendoza, Argentina, the wine capital of the country, changed everything.

It was our last night in Mendoza. We were having dinner with girls from England on their gap year, and a man from South Africa taking a sabbatical. Blame it on the wine, but listening to them talk about all the places they’d been made me realize, “Hey…I could do this.” Travel had seemed so complicated growing up. Now, I realized it was quite simple. You choose a place to visit, book a place to stay, and find a way to get there. And, to make things more challenging, I decided that I would do it alone.

I’d planned to come back home after my study abroad to take an intensive Spanish class. But, I decided, what better way to learn Spanish than to actually speak Spanish with Spanish-speaking people?! Shocking, I know. Who knows how much practical Spanish I was going to have learned in the 8-week medieval Spanish literature course. I guess I’ll never know.

For the next two months, I traveled over 10,000 kilometers, set foot in two oceans from one end of the continent to the other, climbed mountains, went scuba-diving, stayed with local families, fell in love, and met people from all over the world.

I was always the shy girl growing up. Now, I was showing up in cities alone, with no plans, no friends, and realized that I’d hurt myself more by closing myself to the world, than being open to it. And I realized that only when I put my life into my own hands, would I be happy.

In Chile, I also met several volunteer English teachers who were on vacation. And meeting them changed the course of my career.

2014-2017: Back to the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador

In 2014, I decided to volunteer in Colombia. I taught English to university students in Villavicencio, a small city about 90 kilometers from Bogota, but an entirely different culture and climate.

After my volunteer contract ended, I was offered a job at a local university, where I taught for another 2.5 years. During that time, I worked as a language assistant, and then as a lead teacher.

I also traveled to Ecuador, which I’d wanted to do since I was a teenager. Visiting Ecuador was another turning point in my life . . . I’d never fallen in love so quickly with a country, and many “fated” events also transpired as well.

Colombia was about proving my worth as a professional. I worked harder than I’d ever worked in my life, and was shown how strong I could be when being strong was my only option. I met people who took me in like family. I ate the best fruit of my life. I swam in the Caribbean on my 26th birthday, rang in the new year in Medellin, and spent Christmas in the Andes mountains.

But eventually, it was time to go. Something told me that greater things were ahead. I just didn’t know what they were yet.

2019-2021: Madrid, Spain – the city of my dreams

In August 2019, I had two weeks to quit my job, pack three suitcases, and move my entire life across the ocean. Again. This time, I would be teaching business English in Madrid, Spain.

What was supposed to be a ten-month experience of running all over Madrid to teach English in multinational companies, and hop over to other European countries with friends like Austria, Romania, Germany, and the Czech Republic, ended up turning into only seven months, with the last three months of my contract spent in isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In September 2020, I started a study program in Madrid. Since I couldn’t travel much, apart from visiting a few pueblos outside the city, I spent the next several months working on myself. Professionally, I was doing well, but personally, I felt lonely and lost. Sometimes, we feel uncomfortable because we need to make a change. I decided to listen to that message, which lead me to making a very brave and big decision to leave Madrid, the city of my dreams.

My studies ended in June 2021. A few weeks later, I packed my bags for another move across the Atlantic Ocean, and said goodbye to my dream city for the time being.

July 2021 – June 2023: The Canary Islands, Spain

I lived in the Canary Islands for two years. During these two years, I accomplished so many things on this small island. I lived alone for the first time, met wonderful people from all over the world through my teaching position and a church youth group, I started mentoring and fell in love with building connections and providing support for people one-on-one, and I completed a Master’s degree.

That being said, I had to work hard while living here. I was teaching, mentoring, and/or studying every day of the week, including weekends. But working hard next to the ocean hits different.

In two years, I was able to heal myself, learn about self-love and self-reliance, and learned that I was more capable than I thought I was.

After two years on the island, I was ready to head back to the peninsula.

September 2023 – Present: Valencia, Spain

I visited Valencia the previous summer for a few days and fell in love with the city. The city looked like it had been built just to look beautiful. And, it was near the ocean. After two years in the Canary Islands, I need to be near some body of water to feel at peace.

I thought, “It would be nice to live here.” Throughout the next year, I wondered what life would be like in Valencia, under the palm trees, next to the pretty buildings, near the City of Arts and Sciences.

In May, I got the notification that I would be teaching here for my student teaching position. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it.

This year will be all about working hard, but relaxing a bit more, while preparing for the next big adventure. I’ll give you a hint: it involves more research and writing in cafés. Stay tuned for the next big thing, but in the meanwhile, enjoy my vida valenciana.