As I’ve been home in the U.S. for almost two weeks now, I feel it’s time to write one more blog post to wrap the wonderful, awful, crazy, awesome, terrifying, ridiculous, unfathomable experience I have just completed.
The trip home went tolerably well – I’ll spare you the boring details, but suffice it to say that after over forty hours of being awake and living through eight hours that didn’t exist on our transatlantic flight, Kristen M. and I were more than ready to see our family and our beds! And America was looking pretty sweet when we got there, that’s for sure. Though it definitely felt surreal to think that I hadn’t seen my homeland and most of the people I know for nearly five months. It still feels weird to think about it now.
I’ve been hearing that several of my friends have really been missing their European places of study now that they’re back, but I’m not really sure I share the sentiment, or at least not at this point. Sure, I’ll have my moments, like when I saw the red-roofed buildings at the end of Chocolat, when I wish I could take another walk around the Ciudadela, when a Tyrone Wells song makes me miss a good friend I met at school, or when I remember that my stash of Euro-chocolate is dwindling. Sometimes it’ll hit me and I’ll miss Spain, but it usually doesn’t hit hard. For now, I’m super content to be back in the States. I’m enjoying so many things that I used to miss in Spain that I have little time to miss Spanish things, even though many of those things are worth missing. But maybe it’s okay to be content with where you are, even though it’s not some exciting place in Europe. Maybe one thing I learned from being away for so long is how much I love home. And I daresay that’s no bad thing.
Sometimes I feel like it was all one big dream. I’ll catch myself thinking, “Did I really just spend four and a half months in Europe? How is that possible?” But then I think about all the good and bad times I had (and how much stuff I bought) and I know that it was real and that I’ll never forget it.
Okay, so before I start getting too mawkish (isn’t that a great word?), I’m gonna finish this up with a huge thank-you to all of you wonderful people who followed my blog this semester. I know it wasn’t easy, since most of the posts got pretty novel-ish, but I knew that would be the best way to really share what was going on during my adventure to Spain, since I definitely won’t remember all of those details when I’m talking to you in person (or even when I’m going through my own memories). So if you made it this far, kudos to you! I’m glad you joined me on this ride. I may be posting off and on here in the future, though the posts will be of the random-thought variety, so only the most interested (or bored) of you will be back to visit this site, but that’s okay.
So for now, I leave you with one last LOTR reference (of course!). Just remember that “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” May you choose well, and may you follow the never-ending road onward to the adventures into which it leads you!
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