Keeping up with Spanish

I´m already anticipating the anxiety and upset I will feel when I return to New York and am no longer constantly surrounded by Spanish language and culture. To counteract a mid-summer depression where I realize I have forogotten everything I´ve learned this past year, I have found some great ways that I can keep practicing and improving.

BBC:BBC has a great language website where you can practice listening, speaking, reading and writing. They have games, articles and TV shows (including, "Mi Vida Loca" and "Sueños") which seem like a great way to review. They also have this service for other languages: French, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian etc.

Queen Sofia Spanish Institute: I plan on becoming a member of the Spanish Institue in New York when I get home. This will help me to create a network of Spanish speaking friends as well as the opportunity to attend Spanish cultural events. They also provide classes and a tutoring service.

My Doormen. All of my doormen are from Cuba, Puerto Rico and the DR and I need to aprovecha and practice my speaking and listening with them. Bored at home? Go downstairs and talk to them for an hour.

Restaurants. One of the things I have written into my daily planner for the day after I get home is "make friends at mex. rest." There is a great Mexican and Spanish restaurant a few blocks away from me and I´m going to just walk right up to them and ask them if they´d like to do an intercambio with me or wouldn´t mind if I hung out until I find a job. Hopefully they will be flattered and not weirded out. Ha, I´m desperate.

Non-profit organization. I want to get involved with a specific non-profit/community service organization that is Spanish oriented. I´d like to be a mentor or English tutor for Spanish children or do any kind of community building. If anyone knows of a Spanish/Hispanic oriented service organization please let me know!