Taylor-Time

I had the pleasure of hosting Taylor for a week and a half right after my parents left.  A lot of my friends became very homesick after their parents left, but I think having a friend here, made the transition back to Spanish independent living easier.



I loved showing Taylor around the city. Seeing his enthusiasm reminded me of how absolutely lucky I am to be living here. Every once in a while he would say, "Wow, I'm in Spain!" It was really humbling in a way. I am so blessed to have this opportunity and I need to work harder to not take it as much for granted.

The weekend that he was here, we went up to Madrid.  It was amazing, of course, since it's my favorite city in Spain.  We took a free walking tour so that Taylor could see all the important parts of the city in the one day we were there as well as hear the history and fun stories about the different places.  We also made sure to go to my favorite part of the city- El Retiro.  It became one of Taylor's favorite parts of the city as well. There's something magical about nature set apart from the hubbub of a city. El Retiro is so well designed that you can't see any skyscrapers or big buildings or indications of a huge city from within the park.

Our hostel was right around the corner from where I lived when I was studying abroad so we walked to the plaza right across from the piso and I pointed out, "look, see that window up there. That's where I used to live." And I told him the story about how every afternoon, an accordion player would come along the walking street playing music for the restaurant patrons and I would just dance to the music in my room.



Unfortunately we only had one full day in Madrid since we had to be back for the Titanic Party on Saturday night. But I'm still glad I got to go back.  I don't think I'll have time to go back there before I go home. But I'll be back eventually. Tengo ganas de regresar a Madrid y viajar desde allí a los otros sitios a que quiero viajar.

So Saturday night, we had a Titanic party since it was the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the titanic.  We all dressed up in our finest cocktail dresses (which weren't very fine since we don't really have any of those in our closets here).  Unfortunately it was raining so we couldn't do all the activities that we had wanted that would have taken place on our terrace, but it was still a fun gathering with good friends.

For the rest of the time Taylor was here, we just enjoyed the relaxed Spanish lifestyle, took in some sun, and played card games. He taught me this really fun card game and I taught him the card game, Spite and Malice.  (Gigi, if you're reading this, I've passed on the game, and I think Taylor enjoyed it so much that he'll teach his friends too.  Thanks for teaching it to me!)

Taylor and I had some really good talks about what it will be like to go home. He had been traveling around Europe for 6 weeks and was going home a few days after Spain. And it got me thinking.  I'm really looking forward to coming home, but it kinda scares me too. I'm sure a lot has changed since I've been gone. I've changed too.  I've also adopted this culture as my own and I'm going to have to re-assimilate into the American lifestyle. And I don't know if I want to. I love the attitude towards life and culture here so much.  But I'll have to. I don't really have a choice, do I?  I can't wait to come home, but I'd just love to bring my favorite parts about the Spanish culture with me.  Anyway, just some thoughts. Please excuse me if I'm depressed when I get home. It's not that I don't like being around you all, I really can't wait for that.  It's just that, after all that I've been through, the cold winters, the lonely afternoons, the solo travels, I've really had an amazing experience.

And it's not over yet!! Todavía queda un mes y media!