Field Notes for Spanish Learners: Introduction

I've written several posts about my experience learning Spanish in South America. I hoped to chronicle the challenges and rewards of learning a new language, and to suggest some novel ideas about second language acquisition. To make things easier, here's a list of all those posts in order:

Field Notes for Spanish Learners: The Method
Field Notes for Spanish Learners: More Method
Field Notes for Spanish Learners: Vocabulary
Field Notes for Spanish Learners: Castellano Phrasebook
Field Notes for Spanish Learners: Reflections