...C'est La Vie

Sunset on the Alhambra

I’ve been absolutely spoiled this semester. In every sense of the word. Do people always come away from their study abroad experience feeling this priviledged? The people I met, the places I went, the things I saw. Man. I know the world is pretty dang big but now I am only starting to scratch the surface of understanding exactly HOW big it is…. 

Misery misery misery. As I took off from El Prat International in Barcelona I was in tears. Let’s be honest. I was in tears as soon as I stepped foot inside the airport. To make matters worse there was a group of obnoxious American students in front of me, saying how they couldn’t wait to get back to America. Yeah. STUPID. I was a sour puss the whole flight home really. When we landed in JFK the pilot came on the speakerphone and said “Welcome Home!” I simultaneously got teary-eyed and flicked the speaker off. Really though, him saying that didn’t seem right. Yeah, I live here in the States but I wouldn’t hesitate to consider Spain another one of my homes. I guess living somewhere for over 4 months will do that to you… That’s another thing though. It’s not just Spain I miss. It’s Europe, as a large, historic, intriguing, beautiful, entity. Nothing in the States compares.

What’s next? How do I deal with this all? First off, while I was in Europe I decided that I’d like to be a volunteer in the Peace Corps after graduation. This is very likely to not bring me back to Europe, but it will certainly allow me to travel somewhere, immerse into another culture, maybe learn another language, help a community, and find yet another home abroad. We are privileged to no end here in the States. If I can do something to help other countries that aren’t as fortunate while simultaneously seeing more of the world, well, I just don’t think I could be any happier! As for the near future…I have my last season of soccer to look forward to. So between eating myself silly to cope with my pseudo-depression and nostalgia for Europe and my extreme working out (which I’m sure will result in my weight fluctuating on an hour to hour basis) I’ve got my work cut out for me for the summer…hahahaaa. One more year of school and we’ll see where this all takes me…The only thing I know is that another trip to Europe has already secured itself on the future agenda.

Oh. I guess now I'll have time to write blogs about the last 2 months of Spain too, huh?