El jueves regresé
a Colorado. Me levanté a las siete de la mañana y salí a las nueve. Fui en taxi con Laura al aeropuerto. Fue interesante porque el chofer del taxi nos
dijo que a él le gusta mucho la música country.
Por eso, escuchamos música country y hablamos de los EEUU. Fue una buena manera de terminar mi viaje a
España. Estoy muy alegre decir que
después de casi 20 horas de viaje llegué a mi casa y tuve la suerte de dormir
en mi propia cama. El viernes por la
mañana me levanté con ambos tristeza y alegría.
Es muy triste no estar en España porque aprendí mucho durante mi tiempo
allí y disfruté de la ciudad y mi vida allí.
Al mismo tiempo es muy emocionante estar en mi casa y ver a mi esposo
después de tanto tiempo.
Quisiera decir gracias
otra vez al comité del Examen Nacional de Español por escogerme y por darme
esta buenísima oportunidad. Fue una
experiencia fenomenal y nunca la olvidaré.
Ahora España es parte de mi vida y de mi memoria. Estoy muy emocionante tener tantas fotos y
experiencias para compartir con mis estudiantes este año. Esta experiencia ha cambiado mi vida en que
me ha permitido experimentar una nueva cultura y otra manera de vivir. Hay muchas cosas que voy a echar de menos y
otras que no voy a extrañar por nada.
Some of the things I will miss about Spain include the
following:
1)
The method of traveling—though it probably took
much longer to get to some of the places we went, I enjoyed walking several
miles every day and even enjoyed sitting/standing on the metro.
2)
The architecture—Spain is home to some of the
most beautiful buildings in the world and I truly enjoyed getting to admire
them on a daily basis.
3)
The terraces—I absolutely loved getting to sit
outside on the terrace of any restaurant or café. I wish more restaurants here in the US would
offer outdoor seating.
4)
The method of payment—One of the best things
about Spain was that everything was included.
Whether we were at a store or a restaurant the tax was always included
in the price on the price tag. At a
restaurant the tip was also included.
This saved so much time and hassle and made it much easier to eat out in
a big group.
5)
The palmeras and café con leche—One of my
favorite morning snacks was the palmeras, a heart-shaped hard cookie that was
perfect for dipping in coffee. I will
also really miss the coffee in Spain, which was always a shot of espresso
(served either with or without milk and either hot or cold).
Some of the things I will not miss:
1)
The heat/the amount of sweating we did every day—Though
Colorado can be hot during the summer as well, Madrid had many days that reached
over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. When you
are walking around as much and as often as we were that makes for some very
sweaty days.
2)
The lack of public drinking fountains/restrooms—In
order to use a restaurant anywhere in Madrid we usually had to go into a
store/café and buy something. Even then
the restrooms typically did not have toilet paper or paper towels and some didn’t
even have soap. As far as water was
concerned, the only water readily available was bottled water, which typically
was priced well above what it should have been.
3)
The portion sizes/not being able to serve myself—The
food in Madrid was generally really good, but we typically received such large
portions that I could almost never finish it all and a lot of the food went to
waste.
4)
Having to be aggressive to get what you want—A couple
of times while I was out I had a hard time getting service (at a restaurant,
the airport, etc.) because other people came and cut in front of me and
demanded that their needs be met first.
I am used to waiting patiently to get what I want. When in Spain it seems best to speak up and
be assertive—otherwise you may never get waited on.
While I’m sure there are many other things I could put on
both of the above lists, I think I will end my thoughts here and suffice it to
say that I had a completely wonderful and enjoyable summer. I am happy to be home but also sad to
leave. I will never forget Spain or the
wonderful people I met there and I hope that one day I will be able to return
again.
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| Buying fans at El Rastro--the Sunday market in Madrid. |
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| Statues of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza in the Plaza de España in Madrd. |
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| A monument to Cristopher Columbus |
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| The last beautiful sunset from the window of my dorm room the night before I left Spain. |
