I'll miss you...I'll miss you not!

Since all my friends have left (SAD!!) and my time is coming to a close, I've been making a list of things that I will and will not miss from here in Spain.  Some of them are silly, but it's been good for me to think back on my semester and remember the good...and the bad. :)

Things I WILL MISS!!!

1. My host family
2. My amazing friends
3. The beautiful city of Granada and all the beautiful places I've been in Spain
4. TAPAS
5. Walking everywhere
6. Feras and his kebobs
7. NO HOMEWORK, but still learning a ton in my classes
8. The beach
9. Traveling
10. Spanish nightlife
11. All the nice notes from friends and family
12. Blogging
13. My host mom's cooking!
14. Churros con chocolate
15. Staying up late, sleeping in late
16. Fresh fruit...all the time
17. Government sanitation...the streets are always so clean, even after a Friday or Saturday night!
18. My teachers, especially Veronica y José
19. The lack of humidity
20. The brasero and meals in the living room with the family
21. The Arab markets and teterias
22. Staring at people
23. Shoe stores!
24. Margarita nights with the girls
25. Hanging out in the plazas and streets
26. City transportation
27. Going to the movies in Spanish (and UNDERSTANDING!!)
28. The beautiful trees and flowers

Things I won't miss so much...

1. Feeling out of place
2. Miscommunication
3. CRAPPY internet
4. Having to PAY for crappy internet
5. Not being able to pick up the phone and call my friends and family
6. LATE meals...I was always starving
7. Searching for hostels
8. Planning trips
9. The euro
10. Using cash for EVERYTHING...debit card, here I come!!
11. Blogging (it was a love/hate thing...)
12. Soup, particularly those with garbanzo beans or lentils
13. Couples and their freaking PDA
14. Radiated Milk
15. Caca en las calles
16. My crappy cell phone
17. Motos
18. Converters
19. Arriving to school drenched in sweat
20. Being stared at
21. Spanish men
22. Line dried clothes
23. Slippery roads

Overall...I LOVED ESPAÑA!!  I couldn't be more happy with my study abroad country, and had an amazing semester.  I WILL BE BACK, and I hope you all try to get here some day as well.  Thanks so much for following my travels with me...it's been a lot of fun sharing with you. :)

Hopefully I'll be seeing you all soon!!

Love from España...SARA

Paco Paco Paco!

José showed us this music video a few weeks ago, and I just remembered it today.  It's pretty funny...this strange Spanish song that is on a popular commercial pretty much matches up perfectly with Beyonce's "Single Ladies" music video.  It made me laugh, maybe it will you too.  :)

Beyonce's "Single Ladies"

Paco Paco Paco to Beyonce's Video

Questions from Veronica

At our last meeting, Veronica gave us all a questionnaire to think about our semester here in Spain...since I'm not taking any of my school work home, I'll share my answers with you all here. 

Returning Home

1. When I think of leaving I feel... Happy and sad.  I feel like I have done what I came here to do, so I can go home with a feeling of accomplishment, but I have absolutely loved my semester here, so it's really sad to leave this beautiful place.
2. My experience here has been... AMAZING and eye-opening.  I've gotten so much more out of it than I ever imagined, and I am so glad that I came.
3. For me, Spain has been... a taste of other cultures and the rest of the world, a great test of my independence, a LEARNING experience, and a great time.  
4. The things that I will miss are... my new friends and host family, the food, the relaxed culture...I have a list of more for you later :)
5. The things that I will be happy to leave behind are... Miscommunication, feeling out of place, missing family and friends...this is on the list for later too!
6. When I talk to students about leaving, then... I get sad because I have to leave them, but excited because I think most of us are ready to get home. 
7. When leaving a place I usually... cry.
8. The easiest point of leaving for me will be... getting home to loved ones.
9. Before I leave I really want to... spend time at my favorite places (the beach, with my host family, tapas, kebobs, shopping...)
10. The ways I think I have changed are... I'm much more outgoing, independent, open to new experiences, and I have found who my friends really are.
11. The most stressful part of leaving will be... packing up and getting all my stuff to Madrid by myself, saying goodbye, and missing everyone from Spain once I get home.
12. When I think of returning to my country I feel... like it will be a relief to get back to life in America.  I've gotten used to life in Spain, but it will be great to get back to the good old USA.  
13. The ways I think my friends have changed are... My friends here have grown in the same ways that I have...we've shared so many great experiences and have had such a great time.  I'm not sure how my friends at home have changed...we'll see!
14. I will be going back to... a summer of working, hanging out with Tom, family and friends, planning weddings, and I'll hopefully carry over some of the habits I've picked up here.  I've loved traveling, walking when I can rather than drive, keeping in contact with family, being social and spontaneous.  
15. I think my family will expect me to... give them presents. :)  I don't know...it probably hasn't been that different for them than any normal semester at Central...I'm usually at school all semester, and they've probably been able to keep up with me more here than there!
16. I expect that my friends at home will... get sick of me talking about Spain. :)  Hopefully I can use this summer to reconnect with them all, since we didn't communicate a lot while I was gone.  
17. I think the hardest part of going back for me will be... not really feeling "at home"...ever since I've started college, home doesn't really feel like home, and I think it will be worse now.  It will be hard to jump back into "normal life" after being here. 
18. I think the easiest thing for me to handle will be... not having to use internet and crappy cell phones to keep in contact with everyone.  I miss talking to everyone face to face.   
19. I'm really looking forward to... BEING WITH THOMAS AGAIN, working, spending time with my family and friends, learning to cook, having free time to do nothing, eating sweet corn and red meat...bahh...so many things :) 

This really has been one of the hardest, but most rewarding experiences of my life.  Thanks to everyone who let me do this and supported me along the way, and anyone who is considering doing it...DO IT!!  It's worth it.  

Last full week!

It was an amazingly nice weekend to spend lounging on the beach in Nerja!  

There's honestly not much to report...we spent the whole weekend being lazy and loungy, the beaches in Nerja were so beautiful and warm.  There was a fun festival going on Friday though...the whole town was out in their traditional flamenco outfits and many were riding around on horses.  It was very cute...unfortunately, didn't have my camera out, so I didn't really get any pictures.  

This week brings the rest of my finals, lots of last things with my friends, and some crazy packing.  My packing situation actually got slightly more difficult this week when my host mom decided that my room needed fumigating and every article of my clothing needed to be washed.  I've been getting bug bites all semester...not too big of a deal...but a few weeks ago they got really bad, so I thought I better let her know that it might be something in my room.  I guess she'd had problems with that in the past, and so she freaked out a little bit.  That was a surprise to come home to last night...good thing I had packed an extra beach set of clothes to wear today!  Oh well...packing will get done eventually.  

Well...better get home for lunch, but here are some random pictures to enjoy.  I'm looking forward to seeing you all again next week, I hope.  Adios!

More Beach fotos

Last week fotos

La Cena de Despedida y La Ultima Semana de Clases!

So...our bye-bye dinner was amazing...the food, the friends, our teachers...everything was perfect.  

We met up by the Mirador in the Albaycin (check that one off my list!) and walked over to an adorable little restaurant.  We took up the entire top floor, and ate a mountain of delicious food.  It was such a fun night spent laughing and reminiscing with mi mejor amigas...I'm going to miss them so much!

These pictures are pretty random...but at least you can see some of the wonderful people I've had the joy of spending my semester with, and an example of some delicious Spanish food we get to enjoy every day...okay, this was a little fancier than normal, but still.  :) 

"Bye-Bye" Dinner Pictures

Today is our last official day of classes, although I still have to go to geography tomorrow for some reason...finishing up presentations, I think.  Anyways, after Geography I have my first final...the dreaded Lit final.  Wish me luck!  

Tomorrow night, Kristin and I are looking forward to going out for tapas with our host madre (check!).  That should be a lot of fun, especially since I feel like I've hardly seen her lately with all the traveling I've been doing! 

I probably won't get around to writing again until I get back from the beach on Sunday (are you jealous??), so  hopefully you all have a very good weekend...if you are a Central student, good luck with finals as well, and have fun MOVING OUT!! 

Miss you all, but see you soon!

Beach Day!

It's hard to believe that I only have two more weeks here en España!  It's going to be a very bittersweet goodbye as I end this amazing experience...I'm very excited to get home to my "normal" life with Tom, family, friends and work, but it's going to be very sad to leave my amazing friends, family, and life here!

This week is our last week of classes, and we start finals on Thursday.  I'm sure this week and the next will be filled with doing all our favorite things for the last time, and spending lots of time with my family and friends.  

Some things that I NEED to get done this week are...

1. Go to the beach ONE LAST TIME with all my girlfriends
2. Eat about 10 more kebobs from Feras's stand (our favorite food here!)
3. Finish up souvenir shopping in the Arab Markets
4. Get my favorite chocolaty treats at the pasteleria
5. Go for nachos and margaritas at Chile Grande...yummy!
6. Go out for tapas with my host madre y hermanos
7. Visit the Cathedral
8. Go up to the Mirador in the Albaycin one more time
9. Study for exams (ugg...)
10. Start PACKING!

Crazily enough, tonight is our "Bye-Bye Dinner" with our entire program.  We still have 2 weeks left, but I have a feeling that after this dinner it will have hit us all a little harder that we go home soon.  

Just in case you want to see, here are some pictures of our time a the beach this weekend...I'll add to the album with this weekend's fotos as well.  Can't wait to see you all soon...talk to you later!

Beach Day Pictures

Mamma Mia, We're in ITALIA!

Are you ready to hear all about my Italy weekend?  Well, here it goes. :)

We flew into the Rome airport on Thursday a little after lunchtime.  The airport was pretty far outside the city, so we took a train to the center of the city, which conveniently was on the same block as our hostel.  That's the best, when you don't have to search high and low for the place you are staying!   

We checked into the hostel, and then spent the evening walking around the city.  We got our first Italian pizza (delicious...) and saw the Colosseum, many Roman ruins, Trevi Fountain, and the Steps of España.  The city was beautiful at night, and it was amazing to actually be in Rome and seeing the ancient buildings!

Friday we took the metro out to the Vatican City and walked through St. Peter's Basilica, which was absolutely beautiful.  We didn't get to see the Pope, but just being there was good enough.  :)   We also tried to visit the Vatican Museum so we could see the Sistine Chapel, but sadly it was closed for the day...

After our visit to the Vatican, we went back over to the Colosseum to take a tour of the inside.  We had a hilarious Italian tour guide and the tour was a lot of fun.  It is an amazing place to visit, especially when we were able to learn more about the history of it.   

Afterward, we took another tour of the Roman Ruins nearby, but then were exhausted so we stopped for some lasagna for a very late lunch.  I definitely enjoyed all the delicious Italian food all week!  It was amazing... 

We did lots of souvenir shopping that evening, enjoyed more of the sights and, of course, gelato and pizza. :)  

Our last day in Rome, we made it back to the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel.  Since it had been closed the day before and would be closed the next day because it was Sunday, the line was INSANE!  We waited amongst the hundreds or thousands for 3 hours before we made our way into the museum.  It was a very interesting place, but it was absolutely exhausting for me to make my way through the crowds.  I'm normally not very claustrophobic, but this was a bit much, even for me!  

We also made our way to the Pantheon before our train left for Florence.  I really enjoyed Rome, but loved Florence even more.  It was a beautiful, picturesque town with MUCH less chaos!  We spent our first evening at our hostel enjoying our free pasta dinner and chatting with other people staying in the hostel.  It was a very social place, and we had a great time.  

The next day, we explored the city with a Spaniard named Marta who was also staying at the hostel that we had gotten to know the night before.  She was very sweet and we had a great time.  My favorite sights were the Cathedral, the bridges along the river, and a lookout point over the city.  The lookout point also had the most beautiful garden that I think I have ever seen...the flowers were huge and so pretty.  

We had a great trip, that unfortunately had to end with a full day of traveling back to Granada.  We made it back pretty late Monday night, and I had a number of assignments and presentations awaiting me back at school.  Thankfully, I'm done with most of them now, with only a paper left for tomorrow.  

Tomorrow night, my friends and I are looking forward to another visit to the Arab Baths in Granada (YAY!) and a trip to the beach for Friday and Saturday.  With all my traveling, I've lost a bit of my tan...better get that back before I leave in NINETEEN DAYS!!  

Well, better get out and enjoy the beautiful weather...Here are my pictures of Italy.  Enjoy!

Italia, Part 1

Italia, Part 2