A few thoughts

I'm back. I hope you all enjoyed my little break and the guest appearance of Mom on the blog. I know I did :) And I'm not only saying that because I got a week off blogging ... It was so wonderful to have Mom here to visit me. I've been here now for just shy of two months. I've fallen into the routine of the city. That isn't a bad thing. I have become comfortable here in Madrid. I barely look at the metro map now and I have even planned several trips outside of the city on my own. I am navigating a world in Spanish and I can tell that if anything my speaking confidence has grown. I even have been told that I "sound like I'm from Spain" when I speak Spanish now. So that makes me happy. At the most basic level, that's why I'm here. I would like to say that I am speaking better too ... but that is harder for me to judge. I feel like things are coming more naturally than in the past - and 2 months in I hope that they are!

I am also having enormous travel opportunities. Morocco was amazing. I am also so grateful to be exploring Spain so fully (with Barcelona and Toledo in the first weeks and now Granada, Seville, Segovia and Cuenca with mom). Then, these next three weekends will be my busy international travel as I make my way to Paris, Lisbon (Portugal) and Milan. I am so excited for these journeys that I almost have to pull back my excitement to keep from feeling overwhelmed. Usually I look forward to a trip for at least a month before going - but as I am have packed in these weekends, I almost have to restrain excitement individually until the week of the trip. So, today I am excited for Paris :)

So, I am definitely taking advantage of my time here, loving what I am learning (yes I am going to class) and also enjoying myself in my travels. So the "6 weeks left" mark seems like a clock ticking away. However, at the same time, I am missing home, which I know is normal. I have a wonderful home and a wonderful groups of family and friends to miss (yeah you guys). And two months sounds like a long time to have been away from you. Like I said, I was so nice to have Mom here. The one thing I've discovered is that I would not be the kind of person who travels alone. Everywhere I go I want to share what I am seeing with people I love. It is fun to go with the travel buddies I've found in our group - but seeing all this makes me want to have you all here to share it with. So sharing Spain with Mom was wonderful. We really had a perfect 10 days. I laughed more than I've laughed in a long time and I will treasure the special memories of our trip forever. (Love you mom!) Mom is now officially back in the states as of about 30 minutes ago. I dropped her off here at 9:30am for her 11:30am flight out of Madrid. And, she only just landed at 3:24pm atlantic time (9:24 my time) ... such a long flight! (10 hours - the flight back is longer than the flight out because of something with the wind). I have been checking Delta flight checker all day and I felt the normal sense of relief when she finally landed (It always makes me a tiny bit nervous when members of my family are suspended over the ocean). However, it also is sad because that means that she is no longer here in Spain with me. And I miss her and all of you. So I am back here to continue to share my journeys in this way (via blog) that hopefully makes you feel like you're here with me.

In general then, I came here to share my mixed emotions at this the 6 week mark. I am halfway through the Spanish woods. I've been here about 8 weeks and probably would have had these reflections a week ago at the halfway point if my Mom hadn't been here to delightfully distract me. This means 5 weeks of classes and one week of exams - a frightening thought that I will have 4 exams and 3 paper deadlines in 5 weeks. I know it sounds like I'm just traveling all the time - but during these weeks ahead I'll be buckling down to get these assignments done during the weeks. (Page count? Arte-6, Literatura-6 and Historia-11). Like I said, I'm not forgetting that I am here as a student. And I am still pushing for good marks even though the course load is turing out to be a little more challenging.

So my emotions include the normal stresses of student-hood as well as stresses that come with traveling. Then I am also feeling a pair of strong emotions (one pulling me home and the other rooting me to Spain). I feel that 6 weeks is to short a time to have Spain because there is still so much for me to see. On the other hand, I am really missing people back home and as always will be eager to see them when I return. This is where I find myself. With 6 more weeks in Spain to do with as I will. And I plan to fill them and enjoy as much as I can. I cannot imagine doing anything other than taking full advantage of my time here to learn, see, taste, smell and absorb as much as is physically possible. Stay tuned and I'll keep you up on my adventures during these, my final 6 weeks in Spain.

PS. If you haven't read the previous 2 entries you should! They are written by my wonderful guest writer (and Mom) and tell about our adventures in Madrid, Granada, Seville, El Escorial, Segovia and Cuenca. Check them out!