Prospects who feel anxious about speaking often want to know whether a week can change that. One travel writer describes starting the week nervous, and reviewers describe a similar shift.
Starting Nervous
A first-person account from Essence describes the writer’s starting point: “I was overthinking my Spanish to the point of being verbally paralyzed.” She adds, “I went into my first Spanish class feeling pretty confident and walked out wondering what I’d gotten myself into.”
Notable Progress by the End of the Week
The same account reports: “By Friday, I’d felt like I’d made notable progress.”
Spanish Used on the Way Out
The writer describes her driver: “Perhaps most rewarding was my driver, Oscar, noting how much I spoke with him in Spanish on the way to the airport.”
This matches a TripAdvisor review. Amanda P (Solo traveler, May 2025) wrote: “I was able to talk with the driver all the way to the airport (in Spanish only).”
Read full review on TripAdvisor
The Shift in Both Accounts
| Stage | Journalist (Essence) | Reviewer (TripAdvisor) |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | “Verbally paralyzed” | Eliza De Colorado: “Would never have felt comfortable speaking it” |
| Midweek | “Notable progress” by Friday | Amanda P: “Get back in the grove and end the day with success” |
| Leaving | Driver to the airport, spoken in Spanish | Amanda P: driver to the airport, “in Spanish only” |
Read full review on TripAdvisor
Bottom Line
A journalist and reviewers describe the same arc: a nervous start, notable progress by the end of the week, and Spanish used with a driver on the way out. The Essence account is a first-person narrative, and the TripAdvisor reviews are student accounts, so prospects get two different viewpoints on one experience.