:insert something clever:

Friday, June 29, 2007

Coming Home

In less than one week, I will leave Spain. I will arrive in OKC at 11 PM on Saturday the 7th, if the flight is on time. Before that I will be meeting Joel in Dublin and we shall see the sites and fly to New York together. There I will meet Mom and she and I will fly back to Oklahoma while Joel flies back to Vermont. It's hard to imagine that my time here is almost over.

This past year I have(in no particular order):

  • Walked through Park Guell (by architect Antoni Gaudi) in Barcelona (and plan on doing it again on Monday with my sister!)
  • Overheard (and understood) or participated in conversations in four different languages all in one day
  • Learned to make authentic Indian curry and chapati to go on the side
  • Fallen down a few steps on a four century-old bell tower
  • Hung every load of laundry out to dry either on my roof or in my balcony
  • Had a roof to hang clothes on
  • Packed up a rain-drenched tent about three or four times
  • Been given a free pastry along with a cup of hot chocolate in a city known as the end of a pilgrimage centuries of years old
  • Seen ruins and artifacts less than two miles from where they were found, that date from the 3rd or 4th century B.C.
  • Taken a picture of the Sistine Chapel (bird's eye view)
  • Spent the night on a cliff overlooking the Ionian Sea
  • Translated from English into Spanish a short message during a church service
  • Walked along the Mediterranean on the way home from class
  • Ridden in a horse drawn carriage in Sorrento, alongside my fiance (the day after he proposed)
  • Eaten a potluck meal at a small church in Rome after having arrived at the church 10 minutes before the morning service started
  • Slept in an airport
  • Not slept in Florence while stuck there overnight after missing a train to Bologna
  • Taken a class on baroque art
  • Seen many of the major works that I studied in that class, in various museums
  • Spent 8 hours in the Prado
  • Gotten a 5 out of 10 as my final grade in a class (but it's a passing grade!)
  • Had to come to grips with the fact that I will never see my maternal grandparents again until I arrive in heaven
  • Participated in a televised interview
  • Played a card game with four Australians (and Joel) on a train from Paris to Venice
  • Learned a bit about patience, even if maybe only in waiting for buses instead of being able to go where I want to go when I want to go
  • Eaten rabbit
  • Cooked rabbit
  • Bought non-refrigerated milk
  • Played volleyball on the beach various Sundays after church (and after lunch, of course)
  • Introduced peanut butter into the lives of a handful of europeans (and ranch dressing!)
  • Attended a church service in the first protestant church building ever built in Spain
  • Learned humility, forgotten humility, learned more humility...
  • Developed an interesting accent in English where I over-aspirate and h's or wh's
  • Missed home
  • Wondered what "home" is to me
  • Baked yeast bread from scratch
And a lot of other things....but I have to get ready to go to the beach. Have a lovely day and I'll see a lot of you soon!

4 Comments:

  • At Sat Jun 30, 03:55:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    you forgot Sagrada Familia and the arancine degutazione. otherwise, I think you about covered everything...

     
  • At Tue Jul 03, 05:10:00 PM, Blogger Rhology said…

    Over athpirating, hhuhh?

    Whell, whee can't whait to thee hyew whhen hyew get back toooh the Thtateth.

     
  • At Wed Jul 04, 07:34:00 PM, Blogger Jenny said…

    Not quite that bad, heh. See you soon!

     
  • At Sun Aug 05, 07:47:00 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    This is a little overdue, but I just caught up on reading through your journal. I wish I had been reading more frequently over the past year- but you have been in my heart.

     

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