First Week Back in America

So it has been exactly a week since I got off the plane in Boston and returned home. There are snow flurries outside and we have our Christmas tree surrounded by presents getting ready for the holiday. I have gone to bed at 11 o'clock or earlier every night since I got back and am finally starting to feel rested and normal. Turns out, nearly four months of living somewhere that is 6 hours ahead does not get undone in a day...
So what have I done with my first week in America?
1. Shopping
2. TGIF's and Applebee's
3. Rang up a million groceries at Shaw's Supermarkets
4. Watched The Big Bang Theory and Cupcake Wars
5. Went to a birthday party
6. Unpacked and began my mountain of laundry

How does it feel to be back? This is the question I have been asked by nearly everyone. I am not a liar, so I tell them the truth: "Weird, but good." It is weird. It is weird to be driving a car instead of walking places. It is weird to see all the signs in just one language-English. Even weirder to hear American accents everywhere. The day after I got home, my mom, sister, and I were in Kohl's Christmas shopping. I heard a woman talking and instantly got excited, as we all did when we heard a familiar voice during study abroad. I almost said, "Look! That woman is from America!" But then I realized that everyone was from America.
       I am not in Europe anymore. My life no longer consists of the Mediterranean, speaking Spanish, and country-hopping every weekend. Palm trees are not a part of the landscape. I don't wake up randomly to hear protests on the streets and I don't have to hold on to my purse everywhere I go. The food is fattier and bigger. I am in Charlton now, and I find myself wandering around the house trying to figure out what to do with myself. There are moments when it hits me, when I am sad because I am here, but there are moments when I am just so happy to be back home in my New England, with the people that I love.

I have had a lot of time to think since being back, and I realized one of the great joys and great trials of study abroad is that you make it your home. A semester is a long time to be someplace foreign, and by the time I left, I didn't feel as much like a foreigner in Barcelona. The streets were familiar and I knew where to get fresh fruit and how long it would take to walk to Plaza Catalunya. But I still felt like I didn't belong when people spoke to me in English once they heard my accent or when I caught people staring at me on the metro. Three and a half months is not enough time to become a part of a place. So instead, because we all need to find a home, you become a part of the people.
Now, my friends are scattered around the globe, from Australia to England to Barcelona to California. How amazing is that, to have a home in all of those places? Blessed is the only word grand enough to encompass that magic.
It is true that I was happy to be coming home.
It is also true that I cried in the taxi on the way to the airport.

I thought that this blog was going to end when I got back to America. I thought that when I got home, I would put my "study abroad journal" away and continue with the one I kept here, in Massachusetts. But then I realized that I am not going to simply stop writing about study abroad.
I will be writing about this for the rest of my life.

T-minus 48 hours

How weird is that title? In less than 2 days I will be on a plane back to the United States. I am finishing up my finals today and tomorrow will be spent saying goodbye and packing...fingers crossed I fit all the Swiss chocolate in my suitcase! This week has been a crazy one and it is hard to believe I have lived in Barcelona for nearly 4 months. I feel like I blinked and it was over.
Now, if only I could blink and the long plane ride home could go that fast as well...

Hasta pronto!
See everyone soon!

This is where I went today

So for one of my art classes, our final includes wandering around Barcelona and drawing Gaudí's buildings. Today I went to Casa Mila, or La Pedrera. As I climbed up on the roof and looked around me at the blue Mediterranean sky and the view of Paseig de Gracia, I realized how much I am going to miss Barcelona. It is not every city in the world that you can wake up and go explore a building as amazing as this one.

In truth, by the time I leave, I will not have seen everything Barcelona has to offer. But I know that taking every day and living it to the fullest has made my study abroad experience a fulfilling one. It has not always been easy. Sometimes, when you wake up, you are simply exhausted. It is mind-boggling to me that three days ago I was in the Swiss Alps playing in the snow and devouring the best chocolate in the world, and today I walked around Barcelona under blue skies without a jacket. In two hours I am going to class.

 One of the most challenging things about studying abroad is the constant movement. You don't get the time to absorb everything you have seen and done. I got back from Switzerland at 10 pm Sunday night, and the next morning I was sitting in class listening to a lecture. Same story goes for all of my trips. There is no time to really relax as a study abroad student, which is one of the hardest parts and also one of the most rewarding. You learn to pick yourself up and keep on going even when all you need is a straight two days of sleep and to sit down with some fattening American food and a movie.

But every time you do pick yourself up, re-pack the backpack, and head out into the city, you never regret losing the sleep. I can sleep in America.

Keeping it in perspective

It is the first of December, and I started the month off right with a snowshoeing trip to the top of a mountain in the Swiss Alps. I was standing in the fog on a mountain peak forgetting that my life is real.
I started study abroad riding a horse through Tuscany vineyards, and ended it with a hike to the sky.

While hiking in Switzerland, I realized that these will be the days I remember when I am old. What greater gift can I ask for than 3 and a half months of moments that are going to last my lifetime?

Christmas came early.