Journey

I can´t believe how fast the summer has gone by. When I first came back to Louisville, I was excited about having 8 weeks at home. And now I´m down to less than 1. I´m ready to go back and get this last year of school over with, but this time at home with family has been wonderful. Figures - now that I´m finally adjusted to being back here, it´s time to leave again. It´s crazy when I think that out of the past 52 weeks, I´ve only seen my parents for 10. When I think about it in terms of those numbers, it´s hard! So here I am again, getting ready to start the packing process. As many times as I´ve done this and even though I´ve become a professional packer, it´s the one part I dread.

Airlines are now charging $70 for the second checked bag. Thankfully I bought my ticket before they changed the prices, so I only have to pay $50. But this is becoming ridiculous. Airline tickets are going up and from what I can tell, there is no shortage of flyers like the companies say. All of my flights are always booked solid. On my flight to Madrid, I´ll be sitting in row 24 or something like that. I normally sit in the teens, so this annoys me. With all the money I´ve been spending on tickets (three round-trips in the past year,) I could have had a new car with a low payment by now!

My grandmother told me she´s going to cry at the airport on Monday. I keep reminding her that this will be the fourth time I´ve left for Spain and she can´t keep doing it! But everything is just a part of my life now. From the tears at the airport, to being limited to seeing my parents 80% of the year on my computer screen, to dreading the packing of the suitcases, this is my life.

Tomorrow marks the one year date from when I left the first time. I started this journey a year ago amid lots of questions and whys from friends and family. Not once did I doubt my decision, because I was following my dreams, but also I was searching for myself. It hasn´t been easy for me - I wouldn´t suggest moving across the ocean to just anyone. But it´s been life changing. This journey has been such a blessing to me and I can´t wait to continue it. I´ll close with a quote from the book Eat, Pray, Love. The protagonist reminds me of somebody I know. I´ll let you all decide who that somebody is!

"If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue, and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher, and if you are prepared most of all to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you."

Thirty-One Party!

I'm hosting an online Thirty-One party, in part because I want a lunch tote to take back with me to Spain! All you have to do is shop online and everything is delivered to your home - it's that easy! The party closes on August 18th, so make sure and get your order in! Here is the link:


http://www.mythirtyone.com/shop/catalog.aspx?eventId=E846638&from=DIRECTLINK


Happy Shopping!

Summertime in Louisville

Wow, it really just seems like yesterday that I was blogging about traveling back to the states for summer break. And here we are six weeks later and it's almost time for me to head back to Madrid. So far the summer has been wonderful, but hot! Oh, and it's been going by way to quickly!

One of the hardest things to do is to transition from speaking 100% Spanish to 100% English. The first few days were really hard, because there were some words that just automatically came out wrong or in Spanish. In my head I kept thinking Spanish, but reminding myself to speak in English. Now, I'm dreading the transition back to Spanish, because my brain has been processing everything in English these past few weeks. It's going to be interesting.

I've gone through a reverse culture shock. I do miss the long coffee dates or just meeting a friend for a coke and sitting on the sidewalk. I had an awkward feeling the first weekend I was here, at church. It was 4th of July weekend, so everyone was on their higher-than-normal patriotic ship. Someone mentioned from the pulpit how glad they were to live in the best country in the world and I immediately tensed up. It made me appreciate the fact that I'm living outside of the US and am gaining so many new perspectives on the world. When I tell people that it is very arrogant to say the above statement, people mistake it for my being "un-american". What gets to me more is that people proceed to say, "it's the truth." I'm pretty sure if I asked my friends in Spain how they felt about this statement, they wouldn't tell me it was true. I really can't explain this feeling, other than to say it's something you can't understand until you live overseas. Regardless if I'm currently in the world's best country or not, there isn't a better feeling in the world than to be with your family. It seems like every single weekend has been planned out, but spending time with them has been priceless. One of my biggest concerns was gaining weight and I think I've done fine until this week. Today is the first day in a week that I haven't eaten out. So I guess we can call this my fat week! :)

A funny thing I've realized since being here is that Spaniards think I'm on vacation while I'm in the states and Americans think I'm on vacation while I'm in Spain. I can reassure you that neither is true. This summer has been a busy one for me Not including the first Tuesday I was here, I've been working every day, Monday-Friday, 7:30 am until 6:30 pm. So even though this is my "summer vacation", vacation is such a false word....

One thing I've been reminded of is how much has changed in one year. It's been a year since I've seen some people and a lot happens in a year. Mom reminded me that this is part of choosing to move. Honestly, I just wanted to come home and spend time with my family, so it hasn't bothered me that much at all. I've also changed over this past year, so it works on both ends. In two weeks I'll be back in Spain and life will go on not only for me, but for everyone here.

Until next time....