Halfway through this roller coaster ride and I’m getting the typical thought of “How is this almost over?” I really can’t believe how much has changed since I first arrived. The weather has gotten exponentially nicer, my Spanish has gotten exponentially better, and I’ve gotten exponentially closer with all of my new friends and family here. I absolutely miss everyone at home but I battled through a little homesickness when my real family came to visit and have a few trips ahead where I’ll get to see even more of the people that I miss from my real life.

Since my last post, I’ve taken two more trips to Granada, two trips to Cordoba, a day trip to Ronda, a weekend in Barcelona, and celebrated Carnaval in Cadiz. Wow, I love Spain. I’ve fallen in love with the free tapas of Granada, the amazing monuments of La Mezquita in Cordoba and La Alhambra in Granada, and I’ve seen more men than I could ever want to see dressed as drags in Cadiz for Carnaval. I’m incredibly, incredibly blessed to be here right now.

As I type, I’m fighting off the muscle memory of putting a “y” where an “and” should go and putting my hands through my Spanish sideburns that decided they would start growing in Europe (who knew?). The clock is winding down on my time here and I’m finally starting to realize how much I’m going to miss this place. Sure, the optional afternoon naps are great, but I’m going to miss the people and the culture most of all. My host family has been truly amazing and wonderful in every way and I’m really annoying when I describe them to people but I can’t help it. I’m waiting for my host sister to come home from Brussels so that we can go to my host family’s house in the Sierra Nevada to celebrate her birthday this weekend. As this will be my last weekend in Spain for a while, I’m glad that I’m going to be enjoying a peaceful one with them.

So where am I headed? This coming Thursday I depart for the Amalfi Coast of Italy with a helluva lot of my friends to kick-off Spring Break/Semana Santa where I’ll be off from classes 4/10 – 4/20. I will spend three days there before spending three more days in Rome. After Rome, I’m headed to Florence and then on to Venice for a day trip. I’m capping off the trip with an overnight stay in Pisa where I’ll be flying out on a cheap Ryan Air flight back to Seville to catch Easter in my city. After my final full week of classes (what?!), I’m headed to Lagos, Portugal with a bunch of my buddies here and my great friends, Chris and Kelsey, from school. Then, I will undertake some finals before heading off to my last trip to Munich, Germany for Springfest! I will return that following Sunday to spend my last five days here in Seville, enjoying Feria before flying home on May 9^th. I love life.

Hopefully I’ll be able to post a few more blogs before I head home. Hope everyone is healthy and well and cannot wait to talk your ear off with more stories when I get back! Hasta Luego hombres

P.S. I apologize there aren’t any pictures. It’s the biggest pain in the butt to upload any on the blog site I use. Check out my Facebook albums for more. If anyone reading this isn’t friends with me, feel free to friend Daniel Marr and I’d love to talk to you about Seville and show you some surreal pics. 

Location: Seville, Spain