The Things I Miss the Most
My family: Once again, saw this one coming right?
My furry child: Everyone here has cute little dogs which makes me miss mine that much more. Secondly, when you’re feeling down few things can make you feel better than your sweetest best friend crawling up in your bed next to you, giving you puppy “kisses,” and looking at you with eyes that say, “It’s all going to be alright.”
My church family: Oftentimes you don’t realize how much that support means until you’re so far away from it.
My bed: Oh. My. Gosh. Parentals, if you’re reading this I hear that FedEx is doing a special on shipping beds overseas. They’ll ship my dog in free if you just let them know that your sweet, loving daughter is homesick in Spain.
Oatmeal: Or just normal breakfast foods in general. I mean a piece of toast every day is great and all, but I have a little monster inside who gets angry when that’s all that it’s got to work with for the next six to seven hours.
Sweatpants and a Hoodie: It’s amazing how comforting big cotton pants can be. Yes, I have some track pants to sleep in; not the same. Everyone said, “Oh, you don’t need them. They take up space.” If anyone reading this is going to study abroad, don’t listen to those people. Bring your comfy clothes!
Dressing Normally: All I keep telling my parents is that I can’t wait to come home, put on jeans and a t-shirt, go to the grocery store, and not feel like people feel like I am on the top-ten list of worst people on earth. It gets tiring trying to figure out how to be a top-model when one, you don’t want to, and two when you have less than a dozen articles of clothing in your closet.
Grass and Dirt: Pavement, cobblestone, and more pavement and cobblestone. Yep, that’s pretty much what Spain consists of. Even the small parks only have a small grassy patch, but you don’t want to sit there because of the mountains of dog poop. I can’t wait to walk barefoot in a big grassy yard.
Work, UNCA, ect: So as crazy as my life is at home, I miss it. Yes, it is so nice to have a break with no job and far less homework. But, I oddly miss my job and almost all the gross homework at UNCA. I think it’s more that I miss knowing what I’m doing. At work, I know what I’m doing. At school, I do most of the time. I never thought I’d miss UNCA’s gym, the quad, the library, and getting to eat or drink in class. I feel like students would be much happier if they could bring their coffee or tea to class at nine in the morning, just an idea.
Running Without Stares: I run through the streets of Spain about every day here. Yes, there are a few other people who do the same, even Spaniards who do. But it’s like I decided to ride a big white elephant through the streets. There are a few reasons for this. One, most people here do not exercise because they walk everywhere. Secondly, because it’s odd for people in general to run through the street. Thirdly, it’s extremely odd for a woman to run through the streets. Lastly, I’m not wearing cold gear (it’s 50-60 something degrees here) and I’m wearing my “weird Asheville shoes” (thanks Lauren James). So with all that combined it’s actually like I’m riding a big white elephant naked through the streets while singing some Michael Jackson song at the top of my lungs.
Veggies, Meat, Non-carb Items: Trust me, I love carbs, and I mean I love them. But eating a loaf and a half of bread a day can make ya feel a little blah. However, when that’s one of the main parts of the culture, you just take what you’re given. Yes, we do get some vegetables. But I would kill for some spinach for my salad and some sauteed veggies. Oh, and don’t forget some grilled chicken to put on that salad. The food here is good, but you don’t realize how much you appreciate the freedom to choose what you eat until you don’t really have that anymore.
The Things that I’ve come to Enjoy in Spain
Walking: I walk everywhere minus the exception of taking the metro to school and a bus for a weekend day trip. I love to walk. I enjoy just putting on some tunes and enjoying the sunshine as I walk to wherever I need to go. What I like even more is that they give you time to walk to places. Time is exactly what prevents me from doing it in Asheville, so it is nice not to have to worry about that here.
The Siesta Hour: They say it’s an hour, but really it’s three to four. Does everyone here actually go home and take a nap? From what I’ve seen, not really. They go home to eat, and yes, actually enjoy lunch and to relax a little bit. Do all the Americans nap every day during this hour? Seems to be quite a few do, well, at least I do. As I’ve gotten older I’ve always wished that my kindergarten nap time would be reinstated. Ta da! It has. So I do take advantage of it. It’s a nice way to reboot and take on the rest of the day.
Taking Time to Eat: Everyone here makes sure to sit down and eat with the people they love. You will NOT see anyone walking down the street sipping a coffee or ripping apart a sandwich. That’s actually considered very rude. You go home or go to a restaurant and you sit down and eat with the people you love. I do a decent job of doing this at home, well, when I’m scarfing down some microwave chicken or something else disgusting during my five minutes in between finishing class and leaving for work.
Carbs, Carbs, Carbs: Okay, so I realize that this contradicts what was previously stated, but like I said, I love carbs. I love the fact that this culture does not put pressure on you to choose the wheat bread for your sandwich when you know that a grilled cheese really belongs a white bread and white bread only. As much as I’d like
to not have so much bread given to me, I’ve found the joy in it.
....: I’m not sure what this last one is yet. Yes, this list of what I enjoy is far shorter than what I miss. I’m going to be honest here and lay out the honest truth for anyone reading this. There are mountain of things in this culture that make me want to scream at every pretty much everyone. The study abroad representatives give every student who is going away a chart. It goes like this: honeymoon phase, annoyance, slowly climbing back up, being okay, annoyance, acceptance. I fully intend on telling them to re-write this chart. I haven’t had a honeymoon phase, maybe like a honeymoon hour. I’ve accepted the things that I really don’t like, but that does not mean that they still don’t make me want to yell half the time. Thus far this experience has taught me how much I love my life, family, and country in general. I’ve told my mom and my dad that I didn’t want to have to be honest when everyone asks me how my trip was and says, “Oh, you loved it didn’t you?!” No, I don’t. I want to go home, and I’m sure that I will continue to count down the days until my tush is on the plane that’s taking me back to the Good Ol’ US of A. That being said, I am learning which is what I’m here to do. I’m learning about myself, about another culture, and hopefully will learn a lot more Spanish than I have been. I didn’t sign up for a grand vacation, I signed up to learn. I know that when everything is said and done I’ll be able to look back and say, “Wow, I really learned a lot, grew, and changed,” because you never really learn what you’re made of until you’re forced to find your strength in God to stand up on your own two feet and see the beauty in what He’s given you.
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