An immigrant at school

Now that I´m a few weeks into class, I can definitely say this was a great choice for me. I am learning a ton, and it turns out that having a regular schedule, even if it is packed, is less stressful than all the random socializing and life admin that I did in my first two months here.

My Spanish class has about fifteen people, ranging age from their 20s to their 50s, and largely largely from Europe and Asia. Unsurprisingly, there are a fair number of people from Ukraine. I think I am the only native English speaker, but it is likely that everybody in the class speaks English. Since we're all very good about only speaking Spanish, I may never know.  

All of our talking exercises give us a chance to get to know each other. Some people have come here for schooling, at least four are getting doctorates or higher degrees in science, and others seem to have come for better jobs or a better way of life, or just because a significant other moved here. I suspect that I am the only person not working a full-time job, although perhaps that is because I´m in an evening class.

I read today that immigration to Spain has increased significantly in recent years. In the last 25 years, the population of foreign born residents has jumped from 2% to 15%. It is amazing that they have been able to integrate all these groups so well, and that Spain has a relatively low incident of xenophobia and pushback against immigration. I don´t know all the reasons for this increase, although they fast track citizens from former Spanish colonies, who make up a large percentage of these numbers, and the economy boomed in the early 2000s, making an increase in workers popular to both immigrants and employers alike.

In any case, I am very glad that all the students in my class came to Spain, because they are a delightful bunch and make learning past tenses (we´re up to four so far) more fun.