new directions

The blogger.com bookmark on my computer has been staring at me for the last 20 days, nagging me to come back and post, to wrap-up the story of my adventure and my summer, and to let you all know what I've been up to! (I'm kidding on that last one...does anyone even read this besides my Dad? Probably not.)

Anyway, I guess I'd been in denial that this amazing summer was coming to an end and just couldn't bring myself to sit down and reflect on it all. However, the first day of class has forced me to face the idea that summer is in fact over, and that it's time to close that chapter of my book and open up a new one.

It's hard for me to make anyone else understand what the 7 weeks in Spain meant to me. I'm sure anyone who's gone abroad knows what I mean. When people ask how it was, obviously I say that it was amazing, that I had the best time ever, that I can't wait to do it again - but I've said those same things about a roller coaster at Hershey Park or a Sugarland concert. The words sound empty when I use them to reference my trip, because I just can't find the right ones to describe how delicious the gelato was, how breathtaking some of the sights were, how funny some of my conversations with Rafaela, Carmen, and Marie were, and how badly I want to go back.

Don't get me wrong - I LOVE being back en los Estados Unidos. I soaked up every second of my days with my family in the Outer Banks, loved my 2 weeks at home, counted down the days until I got to see my friends again, and can't imagine anywhere else I'd rather be right now than in my cute new apartment in College Park.

What I mean is that I'd give anything to relive the experience, and to share it with everyone that I love. What good is an amazing experience if you have to keep it all to yourself? This blog has been my attempt to do that - to try my best to share my Spanish adventure with you all, in hopes that one day, we can experience it together =].

But the question remains - the trip, the summer, the adventure...they're all over. Does that mean the blog is over too? I had a major dilemma over that question. I definitely wanted to keep it going, but what would I write about? Even though I love reading other people's blogs about their lives, I'd never assume that anyone would want to read about the in's and out's of my everyday life - it's just not that exciting! I knew that if I kept blogging, it would have to have a topic, a subject, a purpose, etc..., not just be a journal of my thoughts published online for the whole world to see.

So the answer is, yes, I'm going to keep blogging. I came up with (well, I didn't come up with it, I saw someone else who did it first) an idea of a new direction to take my blog in, and I can't wait to get started. Stay tuned later in the week to see what it will be.

thanks for reading!

xoxo

lauren

i made it!

I'm in Philadelphia!!

Only for a little while though, as my next stop is Norfolk, VA where my family will be waiting to take me back to the Outer Banks where they've been on vacation since Sunday!

I can't wait to see everyone - even though the 7 weeks flew by, I still feel like I haven't seen them in sooo long.

Speaking of sooo long - I feel like I've been traveling for 2 years instead of 2 days. By the end of today, I'll have been in the Madrid, London, Philly, JFK, and Norfolk airports...crazy!!

Once I get a chance to breathe and reflect a little, I'll post some more about this crazy, amazing, life-changing experience that is quickly coming to an end.

But for now, I think I'll take a nap on my flight to Norfolk ... Otherwise the excitement to see everyone will make the trip take forever.

Thanks for reading :)
Xoxo
Lauren

Rafaela

I just realized that while I may have introduced Rafaela to everyone reading this, I never showed you her picture. I always think that when you can put a face to the stories, it makes them so much better. So here she is....Rafaela =]

I miss her already! Even though our dinners with Carmen and Marie are much more exciting and entertaining, there was something special about only understanding half of what Rafaela was talking about and having to resort to animal noises, hand gestures, and pictures in cook books to carry out any sort of conversation. Okay, so maybe special isn't the right word. But it was still an experience that I'm so thankful to have had, and I'm so glad that I was assigned to live with her. My spanish is definitely better because of it, I can differentiate different meats from different body parts of animals, and I know how to use a Spanish fan in the true authentic style. What more could I have asked to learn from my Senora?!

Granada

Can it be Friday already? How has this week gone by so fast? Friday means that it's the weekend, and the weekend means that we're leaving Alicante, leaving Spain, leaving Europe so soon! It has flown by so quickly, I can't believe it.

But let's not focus on that right now =] Let me tell you about our two days in Granada.

We left Wednesday morning for the bus station and took a 4 hour bus ride there, putting us in Granada right at the hottest part of the day. We headed straight to the pool at our hotel (which was beautiful! Thanks, Marie =]), lounged around, took naps and showers, and got ready for dinner.

We were treated to dinner by Carmen, who made us reservations at El Mirador de Aixa, one of the most beautiful restaurants in Granada. According to Carmen, Bill Clinton ate here once and said that everyone should have a chance to go before they die. (And obviously, if Bill Clinton says it, it must be true!) But as it turns out, he was absolutely right - every table has breathtaking views of La Alhambra, Granda's most famous site, and the food was by far the best I've ever tasted in my life. Everything down to the bread I ate was delicious. One of the best parts of the meal, though, was when Carmen called the restaurant and the host hesitantly brought the telephone over to our table. She was just calling to make sure that we liked the restaurant and were having a good time - both of which were understatements, of course!

Everything was perfect, and to be surrounded by such beauty while eating such amazing food - it was something I'll never forget.

(You should check out this restaurant's website! You won't believe it http://www.miradordeaixa.com/)

Anyway, after our stomachs were full of good food and were sore from lots of laughing, we made our way back to the hotel and got a great night's sleep.

We spent Thursday walking around Granada and checking out the town - we had tickets to La Alhambra, but not until later in the day, so we had the morning to explore.

Our taxi cab driver showed us the newspaper headline from Wednesday, which announced that Michelle Obama (and Sasha, and her friends!) were going to be in Granada all day Thursday! We knew they were in Spain this week, but we never thought we'd be in the same city as them! So, we went about our day hoping we'd catch a glimpse, but unfortunately so did the rest of the city, and the Granada police force had some other ideas in mind. Everywhere we went, Michelle and Sasha were always just two steps behind us, and the police cleared everyone out of every place they anticipated the first lady's arrival.

First, we went to La Catedral which was huge and beautiful (as most of the churches I've seen in Spain have been). But I was having trouble paying attention to the audio guide because I kept looking around to see if I could spot an Obama anywhere. It quickly became apparent that they were on their way, because they stopped letting people into the Cathedral and started strategically turning the lights off in certain areas to make everyone leave. After we tried to plot an attempt to hide in one of the chapels until Michelle and Sasha arrived, we gave up and went outside to stand among the cameramen and other tourists waiting to catch a glimpse.

Once we realized it was probably a lost cause and that we'd never see the first lady, we crossed the street to get some gelato. Little did we know that Michelle, Sasha, and her 7 friends also had a craving for gelato, so we got kicked out of there pretty darn quick. We were allowed back in after they'd left (Sasha ordered a chocolate, by the way!), and there were tons of news casters and camera men in there interviewing the people who worked there. They even got a close up of my face eating my ice cream! I wish I knew about Spanish news stations and TV channels - I would have checked to see if my head shot made it on air. =]

Our final stop was La Alhambra, the palace and fortress still standing from when the Moors ruled Granada. The entire city has Arabic and Muslim influences, but La Alhambra tops it all. The detailed architecture, elaborate gardens, and stunning views of the city made it one of the prettiest places I'd seen thus far. There was running water throughout the entire place which was a nice soundtrack to our journey through the garden.

We had tickets to go into the Palace at 7, but had to go in earlier because, you guessed it, Michelle and Sasha were on their way! You could see the guards starting to move people through and hurry them along so that they could empty the place out. By then the novelty of being followed by the first lady had worn off and I was a little annoyed that they got to have every monument in Granada all to themselves! But it didn't matter - my feet were sore and I was ready for a break, so we went back to the hotel to hang out for a little before going back to the bus station and heading back to Alicante.

It was a great, relaxing two days, and I'm eternally grateful to Marie and Carmen for making it happen (and for a million other things too, but that can be its own blogpost!) It was the perfect "vacation within a vacation," and now we can add another Spanish city to our list of ones that we've seen!

That's all for now - it's time for another exciting dinner with Carmen, Marie, and who knows who else they'll find to invite over for dinner. I look forward to the conversations, arguments, and endless laughter that are in store for tonight =]

xoxo

lauren

Lucky Duck

I was thinking about luck when I was boarding train #1111 from platform 11 at 11am on Saturday morning, and I realized that I am one lucky girl.

I've been noticing that a lot since I've been in Spain - and even more so in the past few days. So I hope you'll excuse me for a minute and not mistake this for bragging while I elaborate a little bit...

I'm lucky that I get to be on this trip in the first place - that I have parents who could appreciate what a great experience this was going to be and were willing to send me here for the summer, that I was able to work and save money for so long so that I could enjoy myself here, that I'm healthy and happy - physically and emotionally able to do something like this. Just being here for 7 weeks is a blessing in itself.

I'm lucky that I chose ISA. They handled every single aspect of the trip beautifully and with such personal, detailed attention. I feel like any study abroad program can pull off a successful 5 week summer program easily, but it was the little things that made the difference and made you feel like they were really there for you. Little things like a real person answering the phone in the Texas office when I called with questions before I left. Or like one of the Barcelona program directors calling the train station for me when I was having trouble buying tickets online and couldn't speak to them in Spanish. Or like how any one of them will spend 15 minutes with you in front of a map explaining how to get somewhere, which metro stop to get off at, what the best times to go are, etc... Or like how they organized and paid for each and every one of us to have a taxi service to the airport or train station on the last day. Those are only a few of the things ISA did to make us feel comfortable and make sure we were making the most of our time there. (Needless to say - if you're ever thinking about studying abroad, absolutely go through them. I would again in a heartbeat!)

I'm lucky that I had Maggie. Even though I'm sure I could have done it alone, it would have been such a different experience (and not nearly as fun, obviously =]). There were so many times during the trip when I thought, "thank God Maggie's here." Whether it was when I first got to Madrid not knowing a single soul, or when I was feeling a little homesick in the beginning, or when I needed someone to laugh with when Rafaela graphically described how to kill a rabbit at dinner, or when I needed to take a cab in the middle of the night to a 24-hour pharmacy...I could go on and on obviously, but the gist is that I'm so glad that we got to do this together. :)

....I realize I'm being a little bit longwinded here so I'll do the rest in more of a list format for everyone's sake.

I'm lucky that we were assigned to live with Rafaela.

I'm lucky that I met the people that I did, and that I now have places to visit all over the US.

I'm lucky that I got to spend a weekend in Costa Brava and another one in Rome.

I'm lucky to be in Alicante. (this one deserves a little more explanation!)

In Alicante, we're staying in an apartment owned by one of my mom's cousins. On the first floor of the building, there are two apartments. One belongs to one of my extended family's closest friends, Carmen. She's lived here her entire life, and knows everyone and everything in the city. The other, which belongs to my mom's cousin, is where we're staying. It's huge and absolutely gorgeous, and would be a treat to stay in any time, but I feel like I appreciate it even more after my time at Rafaela's. Maggie and I probably looked like kids in a candy store when we got here and learned that there was air conditioning and wi-fi. I'll post more about our time here a little later, but I'm lucky on so many levels to be ending our trip in this beautiful city in this beautiful apartment, spending time with family and friends and being treated so well by our hosts =].

Finally, I'm lucky to have family, friends, and an entire life at home that I can't wait to get back to. It would be easy to want to stay in these beautiful places I've been and leave the mundane, everyday things from home behind, but I wouldn't trade that life in for anything. (Just as long as I can come back here and visit!!)

That's all I've got for now, but I had to take a minute and look at the big picture and make sure that I'm not taking any of this for granted. Every minute of it is better than the last, and I can't believe that it will all be over soon!

But I don't want to think about that right now....now it's time to go to the beach =]

Hasta luego!

xoxo

Lauren