I am so psyched to go to Spain. I have wanted to go for the past few months, but my Spanish sucks (I'm still workin' on it) and I am afraid that if I go visit I will be laughed out of town as the stupid American I am:) For those of you who know, if I were to decide to go, what would be the best place(s) to visit considering my mediocre Spanish skills-where English is somewhat acceptable? Thanks for your help! (SERIOUS REPLIES ONLY)
Muy bien! You guys gave the best answers I have ever received for any question I have ever asked on this site. I appreciate all of your help. It will be very hard to choose a best answer. I'll take your recommendations and visit Barcelona for my graduation present next year. Thanks a lot!!

People keep saying over and over that spanish is a mega easy language to learn, so please explain to me the following:

The british football player David Beckham played in Real Madrid from Spain for 4 years, and he never mastered the language!!

Please don't say that football players aren't supposed to learn the language of the country where they are playing in... that's ridiculous and ignorant. Many south americans play in european leagues, and most of them mastered the language of the country where they played... for instance, roque santa cruz and Nelson Valdez from Paraguay went to the league fo Germany and they both learned german. Juan pablo angel from colombia went to the english premier league, and he learned english. Javier Zanneti from Argentina and Ivan Cordoba from Colombia, went to italian league, and they both learned the italian language.... man, i would never finish if i mention every south american player who went to any european league and learned the local language... However, I can't think of any football players from the U.S., Germany , England, etc. who learned the spanish language, despite the fact that many players from these nationalities play in the spanish league.
Judith, your answer is pathetic, there are many south american players in Germany, and a great percentage of them speak good german.... and german is a hard language for south americans. Any football player is supposed to learn the language of the country where they are playing.

u think spanish is easy? allow me to check your spanish skills.

I'm trying rebuild my spanish skills and want to begin reading fictional books in spanish.

I've read Twlight and Harry Potter, but any recommendation on popular fiction books to read?

I took Spanish for three years in high school, and I was really good at writing and reading the language. But its been 6 years since I graduated from high school and my Spanish skills have diminished greatly. Now I feel like I should not give up on what I learned and polish my language skills. What is an easy way to do that with out spending hours online reading stuff since I am in grad school? Any help is appreciated.

I'm thinking of living in Mexico for a year to learn Spanish.

I'll be alone and I want to live in a small city or town near the ocean (either coast).

Has anyone ever spent a lot of time in a place in Mexico that they can recommend to me? I've done a lot of traveling and can handle myslef -but safety is a concern since I'll be alone and it will take me a month probably to get my basic conversational Spanish skills up to par.