The more to follow

My first thought is to say that I feel kind of weird writing this post while I'm not in Spain, but I also feel kind of weird just stopping . . . but I haven't finished Spain yet, so it doesn't matter anyway. I must write and tell you about the end. *Goes and looks at last post to remember where she left off*

Ah yes. Graduation. And then I met with Ester at Café España :) Yay thank God for Spanish friends!

 

And then we went to the popcorn bar for the last time. :( And went to another bar and then a club which was boring so I left. But in the middle Mary and I got some pizza.

Saturday we pretty much did nothing except buy flowers for our mamá. Oh no that's not true. I did get to visit with Mila and Hanna, two of my other friends from church. And we went to visit our friend Rafael in the hospital. He had pneumothorax, which I had never heard of before, but apparently is when there's abnormal space of air in between the lung and the chest wall (yay wikipedia!). But that's unnecessary information I guess. He was doing fine by then, expecting to be released in the next few days. But I think visiting him in the hospital and my chats with Mila and Ester made me feel like I was not just visiting Spain, but that I was part of something more permanent. Like I actually have friends in Valladolid!

Mary and I then took a taxi with all of our luggage to the train station where we took the train with Sam and Daniella to Madrid. The train was fine and uneventful, but the getting from the train station to our hostel was a rather miserable trip. Due to not having eaten anything, being really hot because I was wearing my heavy coat and rain boots, and lugging around very heavy and awkward luggage up and down stairs, I had several emotional breakdowns on the way to our hostel. Thankfully I have kind friends who helped me carry stuff. However, my impression of Madrid has not improved. Haha. The plan was to go out and do fun stuff because it was our last night together, but after a confusing hostel situation, we ended up going to get pizza (which was surprisingly good for being side-of-the-street-in-Madrid pizza) and to one bar and back to the hostel.

Sunday was very long. And mostly uneventful thankfully. I went to the airport with Daniella and Cameron. Cameron and I were on the same flight to JFK so we went through security and stuff together. It was nice to have someone to travel with and to get to know him better. And he helped me carry my super heavy suitcase. As someone said, "yay for chivalry"! Then I flew home where I was met by my mom, Tim, and my dear friend Shelby and their hugs.

I'm really thankful to have experienced Spain. I think it's made me a more open person. It's definitely made me less afraid and much more willing to speak Spanish, although I'm afraid I'll lose it. I hope I will keep in touch with the friends I've made in Spain, those I've left there and those that I'll see again in SLO in three weeks. I'll miss walking everywhere. I'm going to try and incorporate more fish and beans into my diet, as well as tortilla de patata, although I will eat more veggies than I did in Spain. I acquired a taste for coffee, wine, beer, mojitos, pineapple, chorizo and jamón serrano. It will be weird not to be able to order a beer for a couple more years.

It's good to be home. I took a long shower and slept in my own bed and hugged my family and ate peanut butter and jelly and drank milk cold (what?) and listened to Christmas music and we decorated the tree. And it's good to laugh with my brothers and drive my car and be back in sunny California :)