Recuerdos and Reflections

Where to even begin, a month in Europe can’t be captured in a single blog post but we will try to do our best. Be forewarned, this may be cheesy….

Te queremos, Flori

A Handful of Our Favorite Memories:

o   Family Dinner—It’s amazing how attached you get to your host family. We certainly fell in love with Flori. Some of our fondest memories were spent around the dinner (living room) table enjoying Tortilla. Everything from the boisterous Saturday Night dinner (see previous post) to the everyday discussion of classes our little “piso” became a home away from home. Side Note: language barriers are real, however we learned the last week that Flori always knew what we were saying, she would just say she didn’t to get us to say it correctly. What a sneak!

o   Bloody Nose and Broken Toes (and other health related incidents)—Surprise! Our month long trip wasn’t all fun and games but we never had to use the International Health Insurance. Just shy of two weeks in Spain and we hit our first obstacle—SK’s broken toes. Wish there was a good story, but really she just rammed them on the crayon bed in the daisy room. Pharmacies in Spain do carry medical bandages though we learned! Also, bloody noses were very prevalent. We guess the change in climate really messed us up. Finally, “the illness”. Two days, two girls, two different times but one stomach bug. We both came down with a nasty stomach virus during the trip. However, it wasn’t anything a little rest and fasting couldn’t fix. Biggest win: Flori never knew how sick we actually were.

o   Public Transportation—Still a foreign concept to us. Even though we used it our fair share we don’t think that we ever mastered it. That doesn’t mean we didn’t enjoy it. Some of the best times came from the early morning/late night bus and train rides with the crew. Bottom Line: delirious laughter and English conversation got us through.

o   Self-Sufficient Indians—When you travel you learn what kind of traveler you are. Being out and about in Europe led us to draw the conclusion that we are Self-Sufficient Indians. We didn’t have to be chief, but we knew that if anything happened we were perfectly capable of handling it on our own. Life skills.

o   Spontaneity—Hand down, no question some of our best days were the days with no plans at all. The idea of seeing something you want to do and just doing it was the theme of our time in Salamanca. Adopting the pace of Spanish life certainly helped as well. Never in a rush but always enjoying where we were. Hoping that some of this follows us back to the states.

Reflections:

Hailey—When people ask me how was your trip abroad I will honestly not know how to describe it. Questions will be better or I may talk your ears off… My trip was perfect for me and that’s really what counts: a month of growing experiences and enjoying every minute of it. Of course I learned Spanish, and my confidence to speak it grew as well but I also learned the ins and out of Spanish culture and lived outside my comfort zone for a bit. Being pushed in a place where you don’t understand all of the language is a challenge but I would recommend it to anyone. I couldn’t have planned a better last college summer and couldn’t have spent it with better people. I’m ready to be back but that doesn’t mean that I won’t miss what I had there. Tortilla and siesta are towards the top of things that will be missed but the friendships and people that I met will be missed more. Grateful for the opportunity of a lifetime and the people I got to spend it with. SK, thanks for being the best travel partner I could think of! Dad, MG and Austin—CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU! Hasta la próxima, Spain.

SK—There’s no doubt that I was very anxious right before my trip. It was a classic fear of the unknown situation. Thankfully my nerves quickly changed to confidence as Hailey and I began our European adventure. I think the term “study abroad” might be more fitting as “learning abroad.” This was not your typical textbook studying. We learned in the classroom, learned in conversation, learned at home, and learned traveling. More than six hours of class credit, this was a life experience that will always stay with me. It reaffirmed for me that I love the Spanish language and that there will always be plenty left to learn about it. It pushed me to understand and to live a new culture. I made new friends, saw new places, and began to plan future vacations. Hails, thanks for sharing this adventure with me. Mom and Dad, thanks for helping me make this trip happen.

Readers, thanks for keeping up with us. Spain, thanks for the summer of a lifetime. (And America, thanks for free water, air conditioning, and peanut butter).

Qué vayan bien,

Hailey & SK