¡Bienvenid@s #CPChatNow,

Greetings from your co-host Blake Henry!

I first want to apologize that I have not been actively participating in our weekly Twitter Chat as much as I would like too. I have been busy trying to find the balance between school, work, and a social life. I’m really no less busy today than when I last posted on the website or attended a Twitter Chat. Today, I have some exciting news to share about furthering my education.

I will be studying at the Universidad de Deusto in Bilbao, Spain in January. I have traveled to many places throughout my life like Mexico, Panama, and Aruba for brief visits. From these experiences I gained an appreciation and interest in language and culture. The opportunity to study abroad in Spain will allow me to follow my dreams and fully immerse myself in a unique culture I have always wanted to be a part of.

University of Deusto, Bizkaia, Spain

I have been learning Spanish since I can remember, practically preschool as my mom jokes. I was required to take a language class as a prerequisite in order to receive the Advanced Studies Diploma after graduating high school. This is when I took the intricacies of the Spanish language seriously.

I remember walking into class and not knowing what to expect. Would I be good or bad at the language? I also remember that I had very basic knowledge about what nouns, verbs and adjectives were, things that seem so simple today. The first day of class, my professor introduced herself and taught us some very basic words. As the year progressed, we gradually learned more and more words until I was able to achieve an extremely basic and limited vocabulary.

Flash forward to today, where I am only a few weeks from being in a completely different country and culture than my home country. I am enrolled in upper level Spanish courses and have an internship in an Economic firm to practice my business Spanish.

The opportunity to study abroad brings up an important leadership concern with my involvement in the #CPChatNow community. Zachary and myself have had extensive conversations about selecting an interim co-host to serve the community in my absence. We feel this will be best to cause minimal disruption to our community at large.

If you have any questions about how my plans will affect the community you can ask me on December 28^th at the Twitter Chat or December 29^th at the year-end Google Hangout.

Thanks, Blake