I truly enjoyed Spain, and I'm so grateful for the experience because it taught me so much that I never could have learned just staying exactly where I was.
I decided not to sleep Friday night because we had to leave our house at 5am, so Emily and I just went out with everyone that night and came home around 4:30 to get ready to leave. Eva made us coffees and helped get our heavy luggage in the car. We got to the Alicante airport and were apparently kinda late and were told the plane might be full-- it was really confusing but basically we ended up boarding the plane with plenty of time (after we ran through the tiniest security/airport I've ever seen). We didn't get to take a picture with Eva and that will always be sad to me :( I cried a little as I got into my seat on the first plane because it was such a quick goodbye to my life in Spain (and my madre of Spain). Emily and I took our time in Barajas airport of Madrid--we got McDonald's for breakfast, bought a few last souvenirs, and saw the Spain walking in for the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Then we said quickly said goodbye (quickly on purpose this time to avoid crying haha) and I boarded my plane. I slept for most of the flight off and on and watched a Pirates movie.
Coming home was immediately wonderful--it was weird and wonderful when I landed in JFK and everyone was speaking English, the signs were in English, and I could ask questions in English. I have to say this, and hopefully no one will be offended, but it also felt like home because there were black people in the airport haha (there were hardly any in Alicante). Something super awesome: while waiting for my luggage at customs in JFK I met two girls who had just spent the past month in Spain-- not only in Spain but in Alicante! haha It was crazy because I never saw them there but we were in the exact same city at the exact same time. Anyways, it was so nice to finish off the trip with some girls who just had such similar experiences to mine. They were really sweet, and are even from Greater Cincinnati so we had the same flight home to CVG and found/waited at the gate together. It was just so weird that we had all 3 flights home together, spent the whole month in the same city, and didn't meet until the last few hours of the experience lol. Oh yeah, they even studied at the same university (of Alicante).
I slept a little on the 2 hour flight from JFK to CVG and when the plane landed I could hardly keep myself from pushing everyone out of the way as I waited to get off the plane. I was jittery with excitement as I walked through the airport and looked up to the baggage section where I saw my parents and Sam. :) I was so happy to see all of them and (not gonna lie) relieved that they offered to carry my luggage for me. I talked pretty much the whole way home, through dinner, and gave gifts and showed pictures after dinner. By the way, my first meal was Skyline and it was delicious. I didn't get tired until 10:30ish that night because I was running on so much adrenaline of seeing everyone... but once I laid down I immediately fell asleep and didn't wake up until about 12 hours later. That is insanity for me.
So I've waited a whole week before finishing this post. Probably because I didn't want the adventure to truly be over, and I didn't think I could tie a pretty bow around it and call it finished---and now I know that I can't, but I also know that's okay. Some struggles that I've experienced in the past week of readjusting to being home have included: jetlag-- I just now feel normal (not super fatigued) and it's 7 days later. Not seeing any of my Alicante friends and realizing that I don't know the next time I'll see them has also been a little sad. The students in my USAC group were from all over the country, which was awesome, but that makes it hard because we won't all be together again. Reconnecting with family and friends has been good, but not as easy as I had thought. I've had experiences now that they weren't a part of and they continued with life as I was gone (go figure), so it's definitely taken some work to catch each other up.
There may be some other things that are hard to deal with, but in all I'm very glad that I decided to do this trip. I feel more confident as an adult woman (i'm 21 now, geez) and I know that I have a more open mind when it comes to other people and cultures of the world-- there really is no "best" country of the world in my opinion; countries and people are pretty much the same everywhere with only slight differences. I think it was a good decision to do this trip and experience something new, rather than stay exactly where I was and continue wishing that I would someday do something different and exciting. I think that the effects of this trip will continue to have implications on my life and I'm really grateful for this opportunity that I had.
Thanks for reading my ramblings and hanging in there with me. It'd be cool if this blog helped inspire other people to go somewhere new or was just fun to read a firsthand experience of living in Spain, but mostly I'm glad that I've been able to use it for processing through my thoughts and experiences. Welp it's time to go back to life in Cincinnati, which may be less "exciting" on the surface, but is truly more rich with people and love. Thanks for reading :)
"kirk out,"
haha
SarahB
