In exactly two months from today, on June 29th I will be boarding a plane from Madrid, Spain to New York. By nightfall, exactly two months from now, I will be reunited with my family in America. I cannot lie and say I am not excited. I cannot wait to see everyone again, and do things like I did before I came to spain, and eat pancakes and waffles and french toast. But, there are a lot of things here that have now become second nature and the foods that have now become normal, and the people I am used to seeing everyday, that I will have to say goodbye to in two short months.
Last night I had a dream about going home. In my dream I boarded the plane and I got home and my family picked me up at the airport and I hugged all of them and was so happy to see them. In the dream we drove home, and at my house all my friends were waiting. I hugged all of them and everything seemed so normal. Until I came to the realization that the friends I was hugging were my friends from spain, and the house we were in was actually my house here in Spain. Needless to say, I woke up really confused.
As you can see I am torn. I now have two completely separate lives, with a different family, a different language, different values, etc. When Annika was in Spain, she often talked about how she only came to spain for three months mostly becuase her school wouldnt allow her come for the year, but also becuase she already has two lives and she couldnt bear to be split into a third. She already cannot decide which place is better, America or Switzerland. Some days she swears she will live in Switzerland, and others she is convinced she will go live in America. At first, I didn´t fully understand how the choice could be so hard. Shouldn´t it be where your family is? But now I realize, your family doesn´t just consist of your direct mom and dad, it consists of all the people who have made you who you are, and all the people that have influenced you. It isn´t jsut family that matters, although that plays a huge role, it´s all of the aspects in your life that matter.
I know for certain I will come back to visit the Romeros. They will forever be my second family and I cannot imagine leaving them. Pablo has become my little brother, just as Maria and Theresa have become friends, and the older sisters I never had in America.
I know for sure that the Romeros and my family will always have a deeper connection than most other families with exchanges because the Romeros took me for the year, and my family took their son, Fede for the year. I am sure that Fede is having an incredible time in my town and with my family, just as I am with his. This connection garuntees that our families will always be interconnected by not just one link, but by two.
My goal from now until June 29th is to flat out enjoy myself. After this blog post I am going to do my best to not think about going home, and enjoy just living in the now, and living in SPAIN. I have not done everything I had hoped to do before I came, but I have seen and been to places I never expected I would have gone while here (namely, Switzerland). This year has been an epic journey that has changed me only for the better.
As Kate had said in her blog post, when I get home and everyone asks me how my year was, I am not sure how easy my answer will be. I will probably just respond with "amazing". But this year has been so much more than that. It has been a true adventure, with highs and lows to the extremes. I had days where all I wanted was to just go home. I had days where I couldn´t even imagine going home. Life is crazy. And my life is still just beginning.
On a random side note, awhile back I had been looking at colleges and programs. After going to Switzerland and taking with Annika a bit, and talking with Kate A LOT since she got here, my path has sort of changed. I still want to get an international major of some sort, maybe focus on public affairs, and politcal science. Last time I posted I wanted to learn more european languages, but since going to Switzerland I realized, most of the people in europe speak english. So if I really wanted to learn a language that would benefit me, I should learn a language that is spoken in a lot of places yet, places that don´t widely speak english, or places that the culture is engrained into the language, so even if they spoke english, it wouldnt be the same experience. After a lot of research. I have decided, since I already know spanish, and I absolutly love South America, I want to learn Portuguese. it will be easy, and Brazil has a very intense but beautiful culture, and they are also rising in the business world, becoming an important world power. I also, next to portuguese I want to learn Arabic. Although Arabic is challenging, I think it will be a well worth it language. In this era the Middle East is growing as an important area of the world (they always have been, but now more than ever), and history began in the middle east. The culture goes back to the beginning of all civilizations, and the countries are absolutly gorgeous (albeit dangerous, but I am sure I will manage). I have a lot of other ideas rolling around in my head, but nothing too definite. Here is my new list of top colleges I ahve considered (I am not limited myself to the east cost any more...and I have decided to maybe try a little harder, and aim for colleges more at my level of academic ability, instead of aiming low) loosely ranked from favorite to least favorite:
1. Ohio University
2. Temple University (PA)
3. Concordia University (Montreal, Quebec Province, Canada)
4. Evergreen State College (WA)
5. University of Utah
6. Michigan State University
7. University of Alberta (Alberta Province, Canada)
8. Syracuse University (NY)
9. Fordham University (NY)
10. University of British Colombia (British Colombia, Canada)
11. Smith College (MA)
12. New York University
Wow! great post
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