Home sweet home.

I got home a few days ago after 30+ hours of travel time. Busses, airplanes, trains and cars and what not. 'Twas a day of adventure wasn't it?

So I got home on the 21st at around 8pm, or 2am Spain time... which was hard to get used to. It's still hard to get used to now actually, seeing as how I keep waking up at 5am for no reason. Granted, I'm getting my full 8 hours of sleep becuase I can't stay up past 9pm right now, but hey, I'm getting there.

This last week has been a crazy one for me, well the last five days. After traveling across an ocean, a culture and a time zone I went out for last minute christmas shopping with my madre, and that was a shock in it's own. I hadn't been to a mall in about five months, and it was almost too much to deal with without the comfort of Spanish everywhere.

It's been weird sleeping in a heated bed, taking a full length shower, and having heat. It's been weird having snack food, having unlimited TV access, and living normal life. It's been weird not having people try to talk to me in Spanish walking down the street... It's been weird not being able to walk right outside to find a store. It's been weird not seeing the Alhambra every day, or seeing the Sierra Nevada, or seeing everything from Granada....

I'm having a bit of a culture shock, and a bit of a growing up experience right now. I'm going through moments of really wanting to cry, then going back to moments of really enjoying myself. It's a weird mix of emotions that are too fuerte  for me to really grasp.

I love being home, don't get me wrong. I really want to be here with my family, but I think that I just got so used to being without them, and being on my own, and dealing with things in another language and dealing with everything  solo con mi propio mismo that it's just... weird now.


I'm happy to be home, but I really miss being away.
I'll go back one day. I have to.

But for now, it's time to say hello to the Real World.



<3

Buenos Días.

One is the loneliest Number.

S and R just left... and I'm balling my eyes out. Why is that a real thing?

It didn't hit me that they'd actually be leaving I guess. I mean, I knew that they'd be going, but... now I'm here, alone.

Sure K and A are still here, but that's different. I'm friends with them, sure, but S and R... I mean, c'mon. We're like BFF's who didn't know the other existed until now. We're literally three peas in a pod... We just fit together perfectly. We all balance each other out.

I don't have friends in the states like either of them. They're completely unique. I have a lot of friends in the US who are all generally speaking the same personality, these girls, totally different. But I love them with a good chunk of my heart. Seriously.

And now I'm sitting here, realizing that our last conversation was a total waste of oxygen. We should have talked about how great our upcoming years were going to be. We should have talked about how great our trips were together. How great it was to meet each other... and instead we just shot the shit like we normally do.

And I guess that's all you can really ask for from friends. To just keep going on as normal. To try to act like you don't know when you're going to see each other... but that's hard. It's really hard.

I don't know when I'm going to see S. I really don't.
R and I have made plans for Spring Break, loose ones, but plans none the less.

The last thing in the world that I want to do is lose contact with these girls. They've changed my life in more than one way. Seriously. (If ya'll are reading this, seriously. I love ya'll.)

I guess this whole experience will prove how grown up we are combined with how well we manage time, combined with how badly we still want to stay in contact.

I'll be the first to say, if needed, that I'd REALLY like to stay in contact with the both of them. Insanely. Now I'm sitting here being obnoxiously gushy about my friends, and I know they're going to read this, or skim it at least... but it's real. They're two of the greatest people that I've met. It really made this whole experience worth while.


One is the loneliest number vs. three is a crowd.

But we're a party. :)


<3
Buenas Noches

Que temazo.

Last night was my last night out with the besties. R and S.

We started at around 8:30ish and ventured off on our Tapa's excursion.
Our first place was a really nice tapas restaurant with hot wine, Vino Caldo, Vino caliente, Vin Chaud, whatever you want to call it. It's delicious really.

We sat there for a while, ate some great tapas and started getting tipsy.

Our next place had fried barenjenas (eggplants) covered in honey, sounds weird? Well they taste like french toast, not like my dad's but still pretty good. I got some humus because it's great here.

The next place we went to we all got Cañas (tiny beers on tap) and got some really great tapas there, shrimp and falafel.

The next place was bella y la bestia (beauty and the beast) and they have the greatest tapas ever. So after our fourth beer we ate the yummy tapas then headed out to el Labrador

At el Labrador we got the drink called Labrador... which is a strong wine/liquor drink. Fantastic and strong. I got my last plate of Jamon. :)

After that we went to the Chupieria (shot bar) got kind of wasted... if we weren't already, and then went to "Living."

Living is this super american looking bar, but it's still pretty great. We got another beer there, sat for a minute then headed out for a real bar bar.

No tapas at the last two places... lots of alcohol.

The next place we stopped in was called "Wall Street" which I didn't think they had in Granada... but hey, they did.

So we got drinks when the market crashed, and S wanted to play fooseball. So we did. Terribly.

Eventually some Spaniards came to join, and we got our asses kicked, but then they pulled mercy and paired up with us. So we made some friends.

Then R invited us over to their house to hang out. So five spanish guys, three girls.... Weird kind of but whatever. C'est la Vie.

Anyway, so we were hanging out with them, until 4:45.... So yeah, all of that happened from 8:30pm to 5:00am ish.

They were weird so we left after learning some coloquial things and sharing music. It was great. One of the guys was like "eres mi hermana." (friend zoned, whatever.)

:)

Had fun. I'm gonna miss these amigas.


<3

Buenas Tardes.

Real Talk.

I'm leaving Neverland for the real world on Friday night.
I'll have to be a grown up starting on Saturday night.

The magic is going to ware off, and I'm not going to be able to get it back.
Once you leave, there's no going back.

I'm scared shitless. Let's be real.
Life has been easy here. Granted, there have been a few minute struggles over dinero the last couple of weeks, but that's nothing compared to the real world that I'm going to be in in a few short days. Three days. Three. Days. I'll be in the real world. The land of nine to fivers. The land of grown ups. The land of responsibility.

I'm not going to be in this crazy world of "mañana". I'm not going to be in this relaxed world of "cuando puedes." I'm not going to be in Neverland anymore.

Like Peter said, once you leave, you can never come back.

I'm scared.

I know, in the long run that I'll be fine, but I don't want to leave this magical place that I've taken for granted of. I've called this place my home for seven months, and I already miss it. I haven't even left yet and I miss it. I haven't even checked in for my flight and I know that I'm going to be homesick.

I'm so afraid to leave.

I'm not sleeping right. I'm not as hungry anymore. I'm having mild panic attacks. I'm freaking out over here!

I'm not ready to return to the real world of responsibility and accountability. I'm not ready to real exams and classes with a constricting structure. I'm not ready for the responsibly to making sure that my gas tank is full or making sure that I'm early for things instead of right on time.

Jesus. I'm really not ready to go back yet am I?

Dear friends and family, can you just come here instead?

I'm freaking out just writing this.

I'm an emotional wreck because I know that I'm going to be leaving my fairy tale. I'm leaving my kingdom, my safe haven, the place that I've come to in order to escape everything that my home town had to offer me (aside from my great friends and family, but that goes without saying.)


UGH!

here it goes again:
I'm not mature enough for this.

Can I just stay here instead? This classical music really isn't even helping.

Help. I don't want to leave Neverland.


<3

Buenas (Malas) Noches. 

Five Golden Rings

Well, I'm heading home in five days. I'm leaving my apartment in four. I'm leaving Granada in Five Days.

I'm leaving Spain, in Five days.

Oy.

I don't know if I'm ready to go anymore. Now that I'm actually leaving.
This place has been my legit home for seven months. I for the break that I had at home, I wasn't really home... and I'm sure people noticed. I mean, sure I played along with everything, I did things with friends... but I always felt weird going out places and not speaking Spanish, and that was just after three months abroad... I've been here since August.

How weird is it going to be to not hear "¿quieres bolsa?" at the end of every grocery check out line?
How weird is it going to be to not hear "¿dinero o plástico?" at every retail store?
How weird is it going to be to not hear "¡Oye guapa!" at the clubs?
How weird is it going to be to not hear "¿Sigo?" in class?
How weird is it going to be to not hear "Linea! por favor! Sigue en linea!" in schools?
How weird is it going to be to not have siestas?
How weird is it going to be to not have pausas?
How weird is it going to be to not have a three hour lunch?
How weird is it going to be to not have colorful money?
How weird is it going to be to not have one and two euro coins?!
How weird is it going to be to have space again?
How weird is it going to be to not be able to walk places anymore?
How weird is it going to be to watch Jersey Shore in English?!
How weird is it going to be to be able to just speak in my native tongue?


... Jeeze.

It's going to be strange getting home. That's for sure.

Classical and Jazz music are getting me through the hard times.
My suitcases are all packed, and I have room to spare. :)
(See mom, I didn't buy too many coffee mugs, granted there are three in my rolling back and four in my backpack, but whatever.)

:)

I can't wait to get home... but it's going to be weird.

Five days.


<3

Buenas Noches.

Last Weak Feelings

Did ya see what i did there?

I'm starting to have more mixed emotions about going home. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually really ready to get back to my home town, back to friends, back to the norm. I need that solidarity, that sense of normalcy. I still feel like Spain living is some sort of fairy tale that I got to live in for too long. My brain is rewiring right now and it's starting to get fuzzy up there.

I know very well that everyone speaks English in the states, but I still think to myself about how I'm going to ask professors about upcoming essays and which form of a verb I need to use... as if English isn't my first language. I'm still in the Spanish mindset. I'm in for a super rude wake up call when I enter the real world again.

I wish that I could bring this life to the US. Seriously. Friends included.

I seriously don't know what I'm going to do without my daily R and S fix, for real. Or the need to communicate in Spanish on the regular... I need to make some friends who speak Spanish. Seriously

God, I can't wait to get home... but I'm not ready to leave.

Ask me tomorrow, it'll probably be flipped.


<3
Buenas Noches

Too many emotions, too little time.

10 days. Really 9 if you think about it.

I'll be leaving for the airport in 9 days and 5 hours and 25 minutes. Exactly. From this moment in time. That's scary right?

I'll be leaving this place that I've genuinely fallen in love with. I really have too many emotions for Spain to express in one blog post. Seriously. I already posted something about all of the things that I love about this place though.

Good news is, for those who I've complained to countless times, everything is better now. It's really amazing what some simple communication can do. Really, it solves pretty much every problem ever. I'm convinced it could solve world peace. Woah, look at that, it probably could.

As sad as I'm going to be to leave this place, I really am excited to get home though.
Top 10 things I miss about my city:

1.Family.
2.Friends.
3.Home made food.
4.Challenges. (Scholastic)
5.Knowing where things are. (Familiarity)
6.Having the ability to leave whenever I want.
7.Noises.
8.Taco Bell/Wendy's
9. My animals
10. My bed.

Bed should have been higher on that list, but yeah, there it is. I miss all of that.

Top 10 things I am going to miss about Spain:

1.Friends
2.Spanish
3.Easy classes
4.Freedom
5.Shawarma
6.All of the food really.
7.Walking everywhere
8.Easy traveling from country to country.
9.Host fam.
10.Culture

I'm going to miss all of the things that I've grown to love about this place. All of the people that I've met. I don't know how I'm going to get through the day without seeing my friends and hearing their specific 'isms' to lift my spirits. Seriously... what am I going to do? For real. S, R, help me out. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITHOUT YOU GUYS?!

Needless to say, certain people here have touched my soul more so than I ever expected or even wanted for that matter. I didn't really want to make best friends here because I knew that we'd all leave at some point... and, well, here we are... leaving.

I love you guys.

At home, I love you guys. I'll see you soon.


That last part went out to all of you. :)


<3

Buenas noches.

A Face to call Home

This might very well by my last post from Granada. I know, I've written a lot lately, well, today even. But I want to get everything out while I'm here to make sure that I don't leave anything important out. I feel like the second I get back to the US I'm going to lose any sense of validity in this whole "studying abroad" blog.

So here it is:

This is my last week in Granada, and I've fallen in love with this city more times that I could ever express. The whole Spanish culture has kind of seduced me really. Everything is so relaxed, and so laid back. People take two hours to cook lunch and then spend an hour eating. That's why everything closes down for three hours every day. It's fantastic really.

I've fallen in love with the people here. Sometimes the guys are typical Andalician guys who scream out "Ay guapa, vete aqui, ay que hermosa, que bonita, ay!" Cat calling and flattering all day, but it's really only to get you in bed. I've fallen in love with the amable-ness of people here. They're very friendly and very willing to help, well, depending on who you ask. Some of them don't really like Americans, but yeah...

The atmosphere here, though it can be a little superficial at times, is so unique to Granada. You have a down town neighborhood with all of these designer stores right next to the plaza with the local jazz bar, the gypsy stores and the mom and pop restaurants. It's all right there. In one place. Separated by three of four plazas.

There are mountains, rivers, parks, museums, everything. It's a great city, really. I couldn't speak more highly of it. There is a lot of traffic, but this is their version of a city, as in, this is the Atlanta of Granada... which is a really weird comparison to make. Because my city standards consist of Turner Field and the SunTrust building, while here they have Blanco and two or three 10 story buildings that are offices.

It's going to be strange going home, but I'm going to be so happy to be home.

I think what I've learned the most here is that you never really know how good something is until you don't have it with you. I've started to appreciate the little things in life, more than peanut butter. I can now appreciate everything that my parents do for me, I can appreciate the opportunities that I have in Atlanta, I can appreciate how amazing it is that I've even have the opportunity to study abroad for a whole semester and a half.

I think that I've grown here. I have become more independent. I have become more grown up. I have realized that I don't need mommy and daddy, granted it's nice to have them. I'm becoming the person that I'm going to be... and just typing that scares the shit out of me... seriously.

Well, I really don't know what else to say here. If this is my last post, I can't wait to go home and see everything. If it isn't, I can go in more depth later.

But my computer is sucking soooo maybe it will be.

I miss my friends and family, but I already miss Granada. This isn't the ideal ending that I had planned, but life is going to hand you lemons over and over again even if you have cuts on your hands, so I'll just make some lemonade even though it stings.

:)
I'm so fucking poetic.


<3
Buenas Tardes.

Hope to write back from Stateside. :)

Check List.

I now have 10 days left in Spain. Exactly.

This has been a whirl wind of an experience and before I write my final good-bye, not in a death sentence kind of way, but you get it, I really want to recap on all of the amazing things I did. Partially to brag to my fellow readers, but partially because I don't want to read the entries that got really wordy along the way. Here it goes.

August:
Intensive Month of Spanish classes.
Met some great people that I can now call my best friends (R and S, that's you.)
Strolled around Granada
Saw a Flamenco show
Took fun apartment photos

September:
Classes started
Took a hiking trip with the group
Went to Nerja, beach day trip.
Went to the white city in a pueblo outside of the city of Granada
Ate lots of Churros.
Went to Barcelona 
Went out a LOT with the room mates

October:
Went to Portugal
Did Spanish things
Met intercambios through S
Went to Sevilla
Went to Córdoba
Celebrated Halloween Spanish style with the besties + R's room mate

November:
Went to Morocco
Rode a camel
Went to Paris 
Went out with a different group than normal, had a great freaking time.
Had a seven course meal with my normal group, then watched soccer.

December:
Went to Italy
Studied my ass off and tried not to die.  




That's been my fall semester, in short, a list of where I've been and the things that I've done. :)
Don't turn too green.


<3
Buenas Tardes.

So, italy is my new favorite place.

I know, I'm a Spanish major, therefore I have to do something with it, and I have to go to a country that speaks Spanish, however, Italian isn't so far from Spanish, it's actually dangerously close, as in, I can drop an S from a word, or add a "ch" sound in the middle of it, and BAM I'm speaking Italian.

I just have to learn which words that those apply to.

Anyway, Italy was fantastic.

Our first night we traveled for about 14 hours -- bus, plane, taxi, train. All the way to Florence. :)
Which is a fantastic tourist city with the best pizza in the world, however, I didn't make it to Naples, so I really don't know if it is or not, but to me, jeeze, it was perfect.

So Florence was our touristy spot. We meaning Myself, R and S. (Three Musketeers Status!) It was fantastic. We saw the David, the Duomo with the golden doors, a bunch of art galleries, ate a LOT of good food, mainly pasta and cannoli's,  We went to Plaza de Michelangelo, Went tot he ponteveccio bridge, saw a LOT of gold and leather markets, saw a lot of christmas markets, and got some amazing hot wine. :) I love Germans for introducing that to the world, Danka.

In one of the markets they had all of this tourist shaped pasta, one of which was phallic, (ooop big word.) So of course R, S and I burst in to a fit of giggles and the guy running the stand comes over and says in mildly broken english "You laugh because it is Chinese size, but you put it in water it becomes Italian sized." ... with a hip thrust included. God I love Italians. Needless to say we were busting with laughter at that point and walked away blushing like crazy. Then "S from Boston" became Miss Popular because she's so stinking beautiful, all of the Italians loved her... Literally.

That night we left for Venice, my favorite city ever.

We arrived in Venice after a slight mix up on the trains at around 10pm which was totally acceptable. Walked the five minutes from the train station to our hotel and then ventured off to find some food. We found a pizza place that seemed legit, so we walked in a knew it was the place for us when there was a pizza labeled "Americano" that was covered with French Fries. PERF. So that's what Shelby got, and it was fantastic. Granted, she couldn't eat fries for a while after that... but hey, you win some you loose a lot.

The next day we explored through the tiny streets of Venice, over every canal ever made, to find St. Marks Basilica... Holy Crap. It was BEAUTIFUL. I couldn't even believe it. The outside is fantastic, but the inside, Holy Moley.It was epic.
After oo-ing and aw-ing over the place we wandered around to find a Gondola to take a spin in. This was one of my favorite things because "S from Boston" found a novio, and it was hilarious. He kept telling her that he had this special place where you could see all of the stars, but you could only get there with his gondola... Right.

Venice wasn't as touristy as the rest of the places, but it was still fun. We wandered a lot, ate a lot, and talked to a lot of people. We heard a lot of random things in English such as "if you're into that kinda thing, which I am" from a grown man who was passing a lingerie store with his friends. And some Irish guys saying funny things about Justin Bieber and the Gangam Style guy. It's great to make friends in foreign places.

Milan was great too, but more commercial. We walked by all of the designer stores, through the Duomo in Milan (WAY BEAUTIFUL) and through every market ever.

So, really, Italy was the best trip of my life. I went so many places this fall, but Italy, by far the best.



<3
Buenos Dias.

Thanksgiving can be December 1st right?

Welp, it was for me! Traditionally speaking at least.

My friends and I went out to a food tasting along with a dinner... Well, I guess you can call it a narrated 6 course meal... if you wanted to.

There were six of us, A, K, M, S and KT. (K2... yeah whatever, using initials is hard.)

So anyway, we're all sitting down waiting for everything to start, come to find out, everyone in this small little, 16 person restaurant speaks English as a common language, and only my group and one lady from another spoke Spanish.

The man (cool Spanish grandpa) is narrating everything twice, once in English for the group, and then came to our table personally to narrate in Spanish for us. It was really great because we learned new words and everything with the translations.

Highlights from the evening:

Four wines, two of which were sherry's. The aren't my favorite, but hey they're good.
Three olive oils.
Lots of olives.
Orange, fish, onion things that were AMAZING.
Some soup that tasted like jamón.
(lots of jamón... my faaave.)
Fish things in this safron sauce. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. DELISH!
Cheese platter with fig sauce. Have you ever had goat cheese and fig marmalade? Holy balls, it's fantastic. (bringing some home)
Turrón, which is this amazing desert that I'm pretty sure is exclusive to Andalucia, (the province I'm in.) but I could be wrong.


Everything was soooo good! We were all SOOOO full by the end of everything, then it dawned on me that we were going to watch a game after. IT WAS THANKSGIVING! :)
We were all a little "en rosada", when your face gets a little pink/red from drinking, and full, so it was a great feeling. (how thanksgiving should be.) Then we went to go watch the Madrid game, and I got to see my future husband... Casillas. :) AH he's so handsome.


So that was my thanksgiving. I spent it with some great friends, we ate some great food, had some great wine, drank some great beer whist watching a game in a bar. It was really great. One of the best nights in Spain thus far.

I'm happy to be ending all of this on a high note.


P.S. I'm heading to Italy on Tuesday. :))

That's gonna be a long blog post, soooo hold on to your undies.


<3

Buenas Tardes.