Homeward Bound......

Well, I've made it. I'm back home in the good 'ole USA. Kind of hard to believe it actually.

Unfortunately, my very last weekend in Spain I got pretty sick. I got a real bad cold and was coughing and congested and everything, but I refused to let that bring me down any. I was determined to enjoy my very last weekend in Madrid. And I did enjoy it bygolly. It's been interesting dealing with the Jetlag and the sickness at the same time, but I think I'm getting pretty over the jetlag pretty well (as I type this at 4 pm in the afternoon, I realize how tired I feel).

On my very last night in Madrid, we got our favorite bartender to open up the bar for us and our friends. That was nice. It was a good way to spend our last night there - at our favorite spot with our favorite madrilenos.

I thought for the very last post, it might be nice to list some of my highlights, that is to say some of the things I'm really gonna miss about Spain, and perhaps some of the things I won't miss so much.

Under my NOT MISS category:

Having to make a 45 minute commute to school and back home twice a day. While I definitely saw some interesting characters on the metro, and it usually ran pretty well, I won't miss the overwhelming odd smells and bumping and grinding with random people. Not to mention the overwhelming guilt I feel when I finally find a seat in the car, and then feel bad when I see an older person and have to give it up. By the end, I just decided to keep my head down so that way as long as I didn't see there was an old person who wanted to sit, I couldn't feel bad about not giving up my seat.

Riding in cars is another thing I won't miss about Madrid. Whether I was riding with a taxista or with my host mom or what have you, I never felt quite so sure I was going to die as in those instances. It's not that they're bad drivers necessarily, it's just that they don't find it necessary to keep more than a couple centimeters between their cars and others when on the road.

Eating at odd hours. I think I'll get pretty accustomed to eating between 5-7 o'clock again as opposed to 8-10 o'clock. Not to mention lunch at 2 on an early day. I usually broke that rule and got lunch around 1ish or so usually, so that wasn't too bad.

Breakfast cereals. I have the same type of cereal, chocolate cup type stuff, just about everyday I was there. It wasn't always the same brand, but it was always the same shape, and always chocolate. Won't be missing those.

Have I mentioned my commute???

Milk...It absolutely floors me that they can not only STORE their milk in warm places, but then drink it warm as well. So gross. Thank goodness for nice, cold milk once again.

Brandy trying to steal my food at dinner time and then when I didn't relent, biting my slippers. Come on Brandy, Grow up.

Things I WILL miss:

Speaking Spanish all the time. My host mom and host brother didn't speak any English, so in order to communicate, I had to speak Spanish. It was either sink or swim, and I doggy paddled pretty well. Although it still isn't perfect, I got good enough that I could hold political debates with my host mom. While I can still speak Spanish, I wont have people around for the next little while at least, to speak it with.s

My host mom. She took such good care of me from the laundry to my room to my food. She would always sit with me at dinner (as long as I got home on time) and ask me about my day and talk to me about what was happening on the news. She was a really sweet woman and I'm gonna miss her a lot.

Pasapalabra. My new favorite gameshow. Not only was it a good way to practice Spanish, but it was pretty funny most of the time too. My host mom and I would watch that most nights together as well.

The food. I'm not gonna miss ALL Spanish food, but I'm gonna miss the really, really good stuff like Paella, Spanish tortilla and Bocadillos. Bocadillos are like subs, but there isn't anything in America quite like them. From the bread to Jamon Serrano, Bocadillos are different and Ill miss them quite a bit.

Brandy - whenever I got bored or lonely, there was always Brandy roaming around the house. Towards the end of the semester, Brandy and I would take to the streets and I would play fetch with him. If only Maggie would take a page from Brandy's book and learn to like playing fetch.

My other host brother and his family. They were so sweet and nice and I'm going to especially miss Marta. She was such a sweet little girl and funny too. We would sit and practice saying our colors together, or spelling our names. I'll miss her quite a bit.

Above all, I'm really gonna miss all my good friends I made there. They really took me and the rest of our group from HWS under their wings. They were always sure to invite us to whatever they were doing that weekend and would always make sure we had someone to talk to. They were just genuinely good people who enjoyed our company and we enjoyed their company as well. From talking about the NFL or the NBA to playing Rugby with a couple of them, there was always something interesting to do. I'll miss them all: Victor, Luque, Ben, Luis, Guilli, Jorge, Jesus, David, Patricia, Aida, Bustillo, Gumi, Cesar and the countless others that we had hung out with. It was tough saying goodbye to those guys our last night, but hopefully it wasn't a goodbye, only an hasta luego.

So with this final blog entry, I can oficially say that my Spanish travels, for the moment at least, are over. I want to thank everyone who made it possible, mainly my family, and all of you back home while I was in Spain who were thinking about me and supporting me. I learned a whole lot this semester and spent a truly unforgettable time in my life in Spain.

So with that, unless there are any other final questions or concerns that come up that I need to address, TuginSpain has officially come to an end.

Hasta luego...