Until Next Time, España

¡Hola!

Our six weeks here is coming to a close, and in the past few days there has been a lot self reflection on my part. I've been thinking about how different this summer would have been if I didn't have this opportunity. I would have been working and taking classes, same old, same old. And my summer probably would have been far from memorable. Then I think about my family here, and my friends, and the city I've gotten to call my home for the past month. I honestly could write a novel-length post about my time here, but I'll try to keep it relatively short.

I was absolutely terrified to come here. I knew it would be well worth it, and probably the one of the best experiences of my life, but I was so scared to travel alone to a foreign country where I haven't studied the national language in over 2 years. I was quite relieved when I met up with the other students in the group at the airport, and actually felt safer. None of us really knew each other, nor have talked to each other, with the exception of one pre-trip dinner and some awkward facebook chat small talk. In all honesty, I was worried that the group wouldn't like me. 

I was also worried that my family wouldn't like me. We received an email telling us a wee bit about our family a few weeks before departure. I was assigned to a family with two teenage girls, and a 9-year old boy. What if they were all super close and exclusive? Upon arriving to Granada however, my family was more than welcoming! My host parents, sister, brother and I sat down in the family room and talked for a while, or more so I listened to them talk. We talked about my family, how the flights were, if I were jet-lagged, the whole shabang. I gave them a picture of my family, and individual gifts. My host family showed a ton of interest in what I had to say. I immediately felt welcome in their household and my fear of not fitting in was diminished in that short half hour.

Everyone in the class got along quite well too. We did just about everything together, with the exception of eating and sleeping. We explored the city, tried new tapa places, met each other's families, went shopping, spent the majority of each day together, and have stayed drama free, which I think is quite rare in large groups. These 14 other students have come to be some of my best friends in the past few weeks, and I know I can trust them with anything.

I can't really pinpoint a specific moment that shines over the others, because this entire trip has been spectacular. There are so many little things that have left a significant imprint on my memory. A lot of these will have absolutely meaning or importance to those reading this, but they resurface bits and pieces of my experience here.

-Crying the very first night with two girls I barely knew (my sisters and I watched a sad movie)

-Getting lost the very first time I tried walking home by myself (it was after a CEA event, and I was standing on the same road as my apartment, but didn't know it at the time and ended up taking a 45 minute stroll in a giant circle).

-Walking 30 minutes past the bar for office hours with Luna

-Going on the absurd teeter-totter for the first time with Ian, Arianna, Monica, and Dani

-Being overwhelmed by the crazy botellon

-Learning how to make Gazpacho with my host dad

-Singing karaoke in an empty Irish bar in Sevilla

-Justin teaching us self defense tips after we saw a man get mugged while we were studying outside (it ended up scaring us more)

-Watching futbol games at Krisis and the Sports Bar

-Pretending I understand futbol

-Making it to the front row of a free concert that ended up being provocative and inappropriate.

-Playing basketball with the kids at Ciudad de Niños

-Watching Justin teach Luna how to jerk

-NaeNae-ing with Lawqriqelle in a Spanish discoteca

-Winning over Lawqriqelle's heart (with some strategies from the Notebook)

-Climbing a giant rock in Nerja (it's more impressive than it sounds)

-Eating snails

-Chit chatting with Jorge during our tours

-Daniel telling me that rules are meant to be broken

-Watching the sun set with a fantastic view of the Alhambra

-Swimming about a mile out to a buoy in the Mediterranean Sea 

-Walking an absurdly long distance to go to "the club in the mountain"

-Watching Malificent in Spanish

-Being remembered as the cranky girl if I don't get my coffee

-Crazy pants exam days (that almost happened once)

-So. Much. Gelato. 

-Staying up all night with Lia and Patrick after experiencing Mae West

-La Feria and the rest of Corpus Christi

-Getting yelled at for lying in flowers

-My friends picking up and the stupid phrases and habits I use on the daily

-Zumba classes with the Zumba Team (the first class was ROUGH)

-Lunch every Friday with my host grandparents (who are the sweetest souls out there)

-My host grandpa and I playing piano together

-Going to Mariia's college and touring the art school

-Taking black and white manual photos and developing them in a dark room

-Meeting Lorena and all of her bubbly friends

-My host family trying to talk in a southern accent- Howdy y'all!

-Accidentally saying I like ...a certain body part when my host mom was showing me a type of Portuguese music called "Fado"

-Mateo and I making it our mission to take a picture of Grant in the Cathedral, who came up with the most absurd excuses to get out of the picture

-The 50-year old virgin saint revealing herself in a parade in Sevilla

-Drinking icky fountain water because we were absolutely parched

-Eating funky oranges off the trees, which ended up having some type of fungus infection that gave Luna tonsillitis. 

-Cherry pit spitting contests/ spitting cherry pits at people

-Walking along the mountain side of Las Sierras

-Mud fights in the waterfall that left me looking like Snooki

-Playing in every playground in sight

This obviously isn't the full list, but it was a few things that popped into mind. I could go on and on and on about my time here.

Some advice for future Spanish 230 students:

-check your technological devices before leaving the states! My computer was acting funny during exam week, but once it was working again, I didn't worry about it. It stopped working about the third week into this spanish program.

-Order your textbooks with plenty of time to spare before the program starts! I gave myself over two weeks and they still came in the mail after I left. THIS CLASS IS HARD WITHOUT A BOOK.

-Go to Los Italianos if you want some good gelato. And order the Tarta if you have a sweet tooth.

-Try as many different tapas places, cafes, dishes, ice cream flavors as you possibly can.

-If you're buying gifts for people, do it during the first few weeks. Otherwise there is a strong possibility that you'll forget until you only have a few days left in the country.

-Talk to the natives here. Everyone I've encountered has been incredibly friendly!

-TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE TIME YOU HAVE WITH YOUR WONDERFUL FAMILY, BECAUSE THOSE BONDS WILL LAST A LIFETIME.

-Academics obviously come first, especially when you're paying a ton of money to take this class, but don't let that prevent you from enjoying yourself and forming memories.

-FOMO will get the best of your time and money. If you have a diario to write, but everyone is playing capture the flag and having life chats between the hours of 12-3am, you probably should've written your diario first. Entonces, don't put off your school work until the last minute.

-Don't give your apartment keys to your host sister at Feria unless you want to stay up until 4:45am waiting for her to return the night before an 8am trip to the beach.

-Don't forget to set alarms each night. You don't want to wake up two hours after your bus to Málaga leaves. Thankfully there was a later bus.

Okay, so maybe this wasn't 'relatively short', but it will be fun for me to look back on when I'm in the States, stressed out over life and really need a pick-me-up. I've loved my time here and honestly do not want to leave. My life has been enriched by the culture here, and I have been graced by the presence of the most wonderful people, and I couldn't be more thankful.

Until next time, España

Halie