"I was at a very particular moment in my life," Natalia says. "Closing a chapter after an intense work cycle, navigating a divorce, raising two teenage kids. All of that makes you question life, especially for women after 40, 45."

There were, as she puts it, "a million more reasonable options." She could stay in Argentina and focus on her career. Take a typical vacation. She even considered a spiritual retreat in India. But when she saw the option to study English in Malta for two weeks, the decision felt urgent.

"I always had this 'unfinished business' of studying the language properly at a school," she explains. Years earlier, she'd worked in Wales for six months, but always surrounded by other Argentinians. She'd visited Cambridge and Oxford and thought: One day in my life, I'm going to do this. "I honestly thought it would be for another life."

Her family and friends were skeptical. "Where are you going, to study a language? Malta? Where even is Malta?" But her kids (Dante, 17, and Carmela, 14) pushed her forward. "I have never felt so encouraged and appreciated by my kids, as with this experience," Natalia says. And she had already decided.

The day her father drove her to the airport, doubt crept in. Am I doing the right thing? I should've stayed.

"And then I said to myself: 'No, Naty. Enough. Brain, be quiet. You know perfectly well this is for you.'"

On the first leg of her flight, an Italian prosecutor sat next to her. They talked in English the entire way, about work, life, everything. "I said: 'Thank you, universe.' I loved that sign, because I was already practicing, right there on the plane."

Arriving in Malta exceeded every expectation. The small airport. The EF welcome stand with smiles. The transfer with another nervous Italian woman, whom Natalia reassured: "Relax. You made it." And then, stepping onto the balcony of her residence in Balluta Bay and seeing the sea. "I even have a video where I say, 'This is incredible.'"

Natalia entered a C1-2 level class, which challenged her daily. As an expressive person, she found it frustrating when she couldn't convey emotions in English. "I felt like I was a different person," she says. Her classmates spoke well, wrote well, and she learned from them. She felt herself improving every day.

Then, on the Wednesday of her second week, something shifted. "I dreamed in English. And I thought: That's it. This is it for me."

The immersion was so deep that the language had seeped into her subconscious. "I always tell that story, because when I woke up I thought: of course. And I also believe in learning in an environment of pleasure and enjoyment. You learn almost without trying."

Natalia met students from around the world, and one stood out. A Spanish woman from Madrid  became a walking companion. They committed to speaking only English, never Spanish. One day, the woman suggested they walk together from school to the residence.

During that walk, Natalia opened up. She told her about feeling at a breaking point, wanting to change direction. About the divorce. About her kids. The woman listened, then shared her own story: how many times she'd tried, made mistakes, come back, started a company, reshaped it.

"She inspired me so much and gave me so much energy," Natalia says. The connection didn't end in Malta. When Natalia returned to Argentina and faced new challenges, they talked again. "I said, 'Look, this is what's happening to me,' and she said, 'Relax. You'll figure it out. Think of it this way.'"

"I always say those people are like angels. They appear at key moments and show you a part of the story you can't see yet."

Every day, Natalia walked around Malta asking people: "Where are you from? What do you do? What's your story?" Each conversation became a mirror, reflecting possibilities she hadn't seen before.

When Natalia returned to Argentina, she felt different.

"What Malta gave me was perspective. It showed me there are other lives, other ways of living, and that it isn't too late for any of it."