Madird, I bid you adieu

by dmottier

Wonderful friends and family… unfortunately, the day has come for me to leave this beautiful city. I’ve been sitting on my bed for awhile now trying to figure out what to say, but I keep replaying my four months here over and over in my head. Should I tell you about how much I’ll miss this city, or catch you up on the travels I have done in the past couple of weeks? I guess I’ll do a little bit of both.

It goes without saying that I am not cut out for blogging, so let’s just put that behind us for a second and I’ll start with how I spent my Semana Santa.

Here in Spain, everyone has the same Spring Break (convenient, huh?). Kids go with their parents to their Pueblos, college students travel or spend time at home with the family, and all of Spain is on fiesta-mode. The break is during Semana Santa, or Holy Week in English. In the center of most cities of Spain the roads are closed off for processions that the majority of the city participates in… some celebrate more seriously than others, specifically in Adalucia.

Soleil and I spent the first half of our Semana Santa in Tenerife (part of the Canary Islands, which are located off of the coast of Africa). We stayed on the Southern part of the island, in a hotel within walking distance of the beach, with our friend Nick that we met at the beginning of the semester. It rained when we got there so we spent the first half of the day walking in the rain and playing cards in a cafe and the second half playing squash and watching horribly-made shark movies. Luckily, we had great weather for the rest of the trip. We spent the next day on the beach trying not to fry and the following day at Siam Park, which I the oldest water park in the world and the biggest in Spain. We ran into my friend Conor and his boyfriend and had a blast acting like kids for the day. We had a fabulous dinner with them that night and explored the night life near our hotel. The next day was spent exploring the black sanded beaches up north. Playa de la Arena was by far the pretties beach I have ever stepped foot on. We spent most of our time there floating in the deep blue water and the rest running to our towels because black sand burns more than a hot, freshly paved road. Our last day was spent on a catamaran to Los Gigantes, which are cliffs on the northwestern part of the island. We got to swim in the ice cold water under the cliffs and saw beautiful dolphins and wales peacefully dance in the ocean. It was wild to think that we were in the middle of the Atlantic, only so many meters away from the Sahara. Our boat ride was the perfect way to end our trip- to reflect on how lucky we’ve been to experience all that we have this semester.

Playa de la Arena

Hotel View

 

Our second part of Semana Santa was spent in Málaga, with my family friends who were wonderful to us. Our trip over there was long… we spent almost 5 hours in the Barcelona airport. But… we’re young, right? So, who cares. As soon as we got there we were picked up and brought directly to see the processions of Jueves Santo. The history of the floats (or imágenes) was explained to us as we watched the people on the streets fill the air with the spirit of tradition. After the processions left our part of the center (they go until 6am), one of the friends we were staying with convinced us to go out with him and his crew, so we explored the night life until the imágenes reentered the church at 6:30. The rest of our trip in Málaga was amazing. We met many of Javi and Victor’s family members and spent lots of time with their friends from high school. Their parents showed us around downtown and took us to Marbella one day. Overall, our trip was wonderful. I am so thankful for my friends in Málaga and could definitely see myself living there one day.

So, I guess now it’s time to talk about what I’ll miss most about Madrid. Since I can’t get myself to express how I’m feeling about saying goodbye, I’ll just make a list:

5. The variety. 
Madrid has this wonderful gift; the gift of surprising you with something new, right when you think you know the city like the back of your hand (okay, I have never been that confident about my knowledge of the city, but you get what I’m saying). You can spend months exploring this city and will never see everything it has to offer. The more we got lost in Madrid (literally), the more I fell in love with it. Each street, each store, each metro station is distinct and often opposite of the one next to it.

4. The honestly.
Though at times the lack of filter that almost every Spaniard has could get to be a little bit too much, and though I have never seen PDA taken to such an extreme level, it has been refreshing to be in a city of openness, filled with to-the-point personalities. No one here is afraid to tell you how it is.

3. The school.
Okay, if I’m being honest I’m not really gonna miss UC3M. It’s a pretty campus and all, but school is school. What I will miss is Carlos and Agustin (my Medio Ambiente professors), Pablo (who “taught” my Derecho class), Monica (the most proper Spaniard I have ever met who is extremely passionate about teaching Lengua to American students), and Isabel. Isabel was my Cultura professor, the director of the Stetson program and our mentor throughout the semester. She’s such a hardworking woman who made being here a blast. And, of course, I’m also going to miss the vending machine that served me fresh coffee and our “study sessions” in the basement of building 15.

2. The new friends.
I cannot be more grateful for the friends I have made during my time here in Madrid. My wonderful Stetson crew; the only ones who understand why I get anxious when I see the words “sed punctuales.” Alvarito, who made sure we felt at home ever second of everyday and introduced us to his wonderful friends and family. Teba, who brought us into her home on our first day here, took us to oh-so-many lovely dinners and lunches with oh-so-many lovely people. Isa, who introduced us to Alvaro and has been our P.I.C. almost every weekend in Madrid. Basically all of CIEE, who made the mistake of inviting us to Morocco and then were never able to get rid of us (that includes you, Nick… cause you basically were a part of CIEE). My neighbor Lucia, who has been an angel all semester and will be missed dearly, as well as our weekly walks in the park.

1. The new family.
When you hear about students abroad who stay with host families, they normally tell you they had a great experience. They felt at home, shared lots of laughs, played with their kids or grandkids, learned how to cook some authentic dish. I agree, it’s been amazing, but I have gotten so much more out of living with Carmina. Not only have we told each other almost every detail about our lives, and every struggle our families have gone through. We’ve made memories and bonded over mutual admiration for food and tea. I’ve fallen in love with her adorable granddaughters and she has become obsessed with saying goodnight to Mia. She brought me into her life with open arms and I have become a part of the family. I adore everything about my Abuelita Española. And the best part is, I’ve got another one next door. Soleil’s host mom Pilar has been just has amazing as Carmina has been. From our daily waves from the kitchen windows, to the nights she tries to convince Carmina that it’s okay if I stay over past midnight, to the very frequent talks about the love of her life, to the days I get to spend with her spectacular daughters and grandsons. Pilar is a beautiful, hardworking woman whom I admire and have grown to adore. Pilar, Carmina and their families will always hold a special place in my heart.

   

I am at a loss for words and cannot fathom that my semester is already behind me, but I am forever grateful to have been able to embark on this unbelievable adventure. Thank you all, especially my parents, who made this semester possible.

Though my studying portion of this experience is over, I will still be abroad until the 27th. Off to see the relatives in France tomorrow, so hopefully you’ll hear from me one last time before I head back to the US.

Hasta la proxima, Madrid. Te voy a echar mucho de menos.

-Danielita