Texas, how I have missed you!

I returned home to the great state of Texas on Saturday night pretty late. I won't lie, it was an EXTREMELY long day, 19 hours worth of traveling, and I couldn't have been more excited to see my family!

You're probably wondering why it took me five days to get to writing this blog. Well the thing is I've been trying to get back to a normal sleep schedule, which as of right now has me falling asleep way to early and then waking up way to early, so I've been trying to get as much done as possible during the day and thus have had little time to sit down and write out what has been going on. I still have quite a bit to get accomplished including getting a new license (since I lost mine in Spain) and figuring out what I am going to be doing this summer work wise. I'm trying to get as much done as possible right now, but still fighting an overwhelming sleepiness as well as wanting to see everyone who I haven't seen for four months!

I won't lie, it has been pretty strange being back home again, but I realize that's inevitable. I went from seeing the same faces and places pretty much everyday for four months to not seeing them at all in the course of a day and it will take me a little bit of time to come to terms with that. I definitely miss Spain and most of the people that were there with me, but I also realize that my time was up there and that I have to continue with my life here, my real life. It's almost like my life in Spain was a different one because I didn't have the same responsibilities up there and it felt more like an extended vacation than a semester of studying abroad. Now I'm back to my real life, where I have responsibilities and things that need to be accomplished in order to start the next chapter of my life. Maybe that is why I miss Spain the way I do, because now I have to go back to my hectic schedule and the realization that graduation is just around the corner :(

I took some time since I've been home to think about what this trip meant to me and just how much I grew. After doing this semester abroad and traveling as much as I have, I realize that I can do anything if I put my mind to it! At the beginning of my journey to Spain I really thought that there was no way I could muster up the courage to complete the experience because I believed I wasn't ready, but the truth is, I was! Even though change is difficult and hard to deal with, it is inevitable and learning how to move past the difficulties has taught me that I can really do anything. I took myself completely out of my comfort zone, something that I NEVER thought I would be able to do, and proved to myself that I can survive and even have an amazing time, which is another thing I never thought would happen. It may sound weird, but I am truly proud of myself for sticking it out those first few weeks and letting my guard down because I had an amazing time these last four months and I wouldn't trade any of it for the world!

Another thing that I have learned about myself over these past few months is that I can make it on my own. Even though I've been at college for almost three years now, I still rely so much on my family and come home at least once a month. Being over seas I didn't have that luxury of coming home when I needed to and I think that helped me realize that I can also be away from those I love the most and be okay. That might also sound silly, but it is a major realization for me.

I still find it hard to believe sometimes that this chapter of my life has come and gone already, but I know that it was time to move to the next chapter and bring what I've learned to the rest of the chapters to come. Thank you for coming along with me and following my journey! I can't wait to see what happens next! :)

Love y'all always!

xoxo

Time is almost up...

So I realize it's been awhile since I last posted anything, and the reason for that is that I've been putting off writing another post since so much has happened in the last month and I don't even know where to begin. I guess the best place would be Mallorca...

On April 14th I headed to the beautiful Island of Mallorca, which is part of Spain, with a group of friends in my program here. It was an extremely early morning, but well worth the trip. I'm just going to summarize my trip because since it was a six day trip there are obviously a lot of details that would take forever to get into. We rented an apartment, which ended up being a really good idea because we were able to cook our meals and it was ideally located near the beach, so we were all very happy. My main goal for the vacation was just to relax and spend as much time on the beach as possible, but of course not everyone was up for that, so we ended up renting mopeds for three days and taking small days trips. Now that sounds like a good idea, but of course there was drama and my day trips turned into one day trip and then a long trek back to the apartment, but I didn't let it ruin my vacation. All in all is was an incredible trip and the island was absolutely beautiful! I was sad to leave, but at the same time excited to head to England for the second half of my Semana Santa (or Spring Break if you would like).

So, the same day that I arrived back in Barcelona, I left for England, which I discovered was a bad idea, but regardless I arrived in London where my friend Jo met me and drove me to Winchester, which has become another home to me! The six days I spent in England were absolutely AMAZING! It was so nice to spend time with people I consider (especially after this trip) to be family. I didn't have to worry about seeing everything there was to see, or making a bunch of side trips. All I had to do was relax and spend time with friends who I hadn't seen in awhile. I was lucky enough to spend Easter with the Burridges and really felt like I was part of the family, which I haven't had that feeling since leaving home in January. I was very sad to leave, but knew I only had a little over two weeks before I would be heading back to Texas, so I was able to motivate myself to finish up in Barcelona.

And that leads me back to Barcelona where I have just four days left. It's hard to believe that my time here is almost over. I can still remember the very first day when I arrived. How scared I was, how sick I was :(, and just how nervous I was about starting this amazing adventure, and here I am now about to head home having experienced so many incredible things! I was so sure that I wouldn't make it past the second week, but I did! It's literally unbelievable! Not only have I learned so many thing about the places I've been and the people I've spent the last four months with, but I've learned so much about myself and I can definitely say I've grown because of this experience. Sure there are still things that I need to discover, and there were definitely times during my trip where things didn't go the way I had hoped, but I think each one of those things has really taught me something about myself and what I want out of life.

I'm sorry that this post is so short and lacking detail, but I promise that once I'm back home I will share all the stories of these last four months with y'all and I won't leave out any details!

Love y'all!

XOXO