As I'm writing this, I have now been away from the United States for 174 consecutive days, beating my previous record at 136 consecutive days when I was studying abroad in 2012. Now, in the grand scheme of things I realize that doesn't seem like a huge amount of time, but I am actually starting to feel the distance. When I studied abroad the first time, I really didn't ever experience any sense of "homesickness" (to be fair, I'm sure a huge part of that was just how excited I was about being abroad for the first time). And while I wouldn't say I'm experiencing much "homesickness" per se this time around either, there certainly are a lot of things about the US that I miss, especially when it comes to food and schedules (I mean, OK, OBVIOUSLY I miss people, but that's a whole other issue). I've even started dreaming about it! I dream about my favorite dishes from my favorite restaurants back in CU: Big Roll from Kofusion, Pad See Yu from Siam Terrace, Chicken Frontega Panini from Panera, homemade meals that aren't cooked by me, Tollhouse cookie dough, homemade brownies, oh MAN especially homemade brownies! I practically have fantasies about going into Meijer, in the middle of the night, on a Sunday, and buying all the pre-made meals JUST BECAUSE I CAN! It's really quite pathetic.
But I think other people are also starting to realize just how long I have been gone / for how much longer I will be gone. In the past month, I've had an influx of people asking me, "so, when are you coming back home?" For me, it's a really awkward question.
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Less than 36 hours after arriving back in Granada I was already back on the road! This time, to Barcelona! I had visited the city before in 2012 when I was studying abroad but I was only there for a weekend and there was still so much I wanted to see and do there so I was very excited when one of my group of friends invited me to join them on their long weekend in the city! Don't worry - I'm not going to recount the entire 5 days play-by-play style. I'll just give you the highlights!
In a bold move, I decided to celebrate Carnaval again this year. My last Spanish Carnaval was... well, frankly it was a nightmare. I was very hesitant about making any effort to celebrate it again. But when my friend Lucía invited me along to come with her back to her hometown in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, to celebrate Carnaval I knew it would be a giant mistake not to take her up on it. I mean, how many opportunities do you get to travel to new places with people who are actually from there? Returning to Granada this year, I really didn't have an extensive list of things I wanted to do this time around that I hadn't gotten the chance to do the first time. In fact, there were only three items on the list:
1. Go skiing in the Sierra Nevadas 2. Go to a futbol (soccer) match in Spain 3. Go to the Arab baths in Granada Sometimes amazing opportunities fall right into your lap. Such was the case for me on Thursday afternoon when I happened to be sitting at a cafe with Milada enjoying the most decadent post-lunch cakes and coffee. Only minutes before I was supposed to be heading out for class, I received a message from the director of my former study abroad program asking if I wanted to come along on their weekend trip to Ronda and Sevilla the next morning since some students had fallen ill and their spots on the trip were now up for grabs.
Oh man, I have been meaning to go back to Sevilla but I was all set to get some major work done this weekend... Did I mention you can bring your friend? (Milada happens to be the friend I brought along with me last weekend when I was invited to join this group on their hike through the natural park) Well... my class DID get rescheduled that was supposed to be tomorrow but I still have so many things I was supposed to get done tomorrow during business hours including figuring out visa stuff for next year, sending in my absentee ballot and straightening some stuff out with the postgraduate office.... Did I mention it's free? Well.... Have you ever looked at someone's face when you tell them, "haha funny story, we just got invited on a free weekend trip to explore some of the most beautiful places in Spain but you can only go if I go and I'm not sure if that's in my flexible schedule right now..." Ok, fine, what the heck! YOLO! Let's do it! And 14 hours later, we were on a bus! |
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Meet the Author:Graduate student of GEMMA Eramus Mundus Master's Degree in Women's and Gender Studies. Currently living in Budapest, Hungary. Originally from the American midwest. Archives
October 2016
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