Los eventos finales

Las ultimas semanas (the final weeks)

When I got back from Budapest I had plenty of things to keep me busy until I returned to the States.
The main thing being finals. I had a 350 page book about Spanish culture and traditions to summarize into what turned out to be a 17 page paper, as well as a presentation, I had other various articles to summarize for the same class, a psychology final exam to study for, and my final paper for my internship.

See, I did actually have work in Spain for all you doubters out there ;)

Una mezcla de actividades y la comienza de las despedidas 
(a mix of activities and the beginning of the goodbyes)

While scrambling to get my schoolwork done I also did a children's book reading in Pepa's husband's children's bookstore. I read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," "Each Peach Pear Plum," and "Goodnight Moon" to a group of what turned out to be like 20, two to nine year old Spanish children. It was fun but slightly overwhelming trying to get the kids to pay attention and do the activities in English. However, I will never forget this one little snooty girl, who clearly went to an international school, that consistently tried to test me in her posh little British accent.

"Cawn you speak Spawww-nish?" ( in her British accent)
Yes I can.
"Well, cawn you say something in Spawww-nish?"
Yes, but not right now because that's not part of the activity.

After her many attempts to get me to say something, she walked away arms crossed and very dissatisfied. I will never forget such a special child.

My friend Rosa (who is actually Candela's mom, one of the girls I tutored)  took me out to a really nice lunch in a pretty traditional Spanish restaurant during my second to last week as sort of a goodbye

Rosa y yo :)

lunch. She knew exactly what to order so the food was great and we spent several hours chatting, eating, and drinking. It was so much fun. That night I also went to a goodbye dinner for my program which probably would've been more fun if I hadn't gotten sick. I started to feel super nauseous and light headed. I didn't end up eating anything at the dinner but toughed it out since it was the last time I was going to see a lot of the people there. Pepa and Marisa, our program directors, chose a really nice restaurant and made us a video which was super cute. It was a good night, despite not feeling so well. And my friends and my program directors were very comforting and sweet about it.

Cristina, Marisa, Kiersten, Tonada, Pepa, Me, Maraya & Anya

The next day I had plans to go the colegio's Bacherillato graduation ceremony and dinner. These were my 18 year old students who are continuing on to one of Spain's universities. I actually got really close with a lot of my students from Bachillerato since they're much closer to my age and their English level typically was quite high.

Taught them how to do the "cara tonta"

The ceremony began with a mass and then we moved to the school's theater to see a slide show of pictures and watch the students walk across the stage to graduate. After the ceremony, the students and the professors (and myself) went to a restaurant and later the students went on to an all night party at some club (I opted out of that..which you will later read was an extremely good decision).

Me and my students! 

The ceremony was really nice and the dinner was super fun. I got the "privilege" of sitting with some of the other professors and administrators who spent pretty much all night trying to say my name without lisping the 'Z' while drinking their beer and wine. I eventually snuck away and hung out with some of my students too and got some pictures with them. The several-coursed meal looked good but I still wasn't feeling100% and hadn't eaten much all day so I nibbled but didn't eat much. My students begged me to come to their party but I had already told my friends from my program that I would go out with them because it was someone's birthday, so I declined their pleas.

I did end up going out to the bars with my friends afterwards at about 1 a.m. but almost immediately started getting nauseous again. I thought it would pass like it had the night before so I tried to stay out a bit longer but refused to drink anything knowing that that would probably set me over the edge. After about an hour of trying to make it work, I  couldn't take it any longer and really needed to get home. My friends Anya and Chauncey offered to walk me home which I didn't think I needed at the time but it was good they came. (*warning* things get a little gross in the next few sentences). I only lived about 20 minutes away but I couldn't hold it and I threw up 4 times in the street on the way home, looking like I'd partied too hard and drank too much...which obviously was quite the contrary. Anya and Chauncey got me home and in my bed and I proceeded to throw up about every 15 minutes for the rest of the night. By morning I felt like crap and was getting really dehydrated. My host mom had me try some tea and said we'd have to go to the hospital if I didn't improve. Well, I threw that up and she immediately drove us to the hospital.

El hospital

Once admitted, I was hooked up to an IV and had a bazillion tests run like an echocardiogram, an ultra sound, multiple X-rays, a CAT scan and who knows what else. I was so sick I don't even really remember it all. My fever kept rising and I had some pain in my upper abdomen. They presumed it was my appendix but couldn't be sure because they couldn't find it during the ultra sound. They did the CAT scan to find it and my favorite part was when they stopped the scan and the nurse ran over to me and exclaimed, "You don't have a gallbladder, are you aware of that?!"

Yes, I'm well aware. Thank you.

They found that my appendix was in the wrong spot which is why I might have been experiencing pain in my upper abdomen. They decided to have me wait 3 hours and then repeat the tests and have my blood analyzed one more time because they couldn't figure out what was going on and I was progressively getting worse.

Finally, a surgeon came in and said that they decided to operate and would take my appendix out no matter what they found, but they wanted to take a look around with the laparoscope to see what was going on.

And that's the moment I flipped out.

"You're just gonna open me and have a look?! I have to be home in a week! I also need to call my parents..."

Pepa then shows up and thankfully calls my mom who naturally is freaking out since my parents had literally woken up to all of my Facebook messages saying I was in the hospital. Meanwhile I'm getting wheeled away to surgery as my host parents blow me kisses goodbye. I'm basically having a panic attack at this point. I get into the operating room and the anesthesiologist and I start chatting it up. He was very impressed by my Spanish (lord knows if I was making any sense at this point). But he was the first person that seemed to realize how freaky this was for me, especially in another language with all these medical terms thrown at me that I didn't use regularly. As he gave me some much needed laughing gas, he told me his daughters were studying in Chicago and couldn't even imagine what it'd be like if he got a call in the middle of the night that one of them ended up in the hospital. I think he was my favorite person of all the people I encountered in the hospital that day. And before I knew it, I was awake, in pain, confused, crying and with a straw in my mouth sucking up what tasted like sprite.

I spent a total of two nights and three days in the hospital before they released me. They didn't let me get up, even to go to the bathroom and the food was even worse there than it is here so I didn't eat much. I spent most of the time sleeping and occasionally screaming when they would wake me up in the middle of the night to give me a shot in my stomach. I had lots of visitors which was great, even my tutees came along and brought me stuffed animals, but my host mom was the best. She was there with me the whole time, even through the night. I still can't thank her enough. She was amazing. Even my host dad was supportive and came over to check on me frequently. He apparently even cried when I went off to surgery. My tough-guy appearing host dad even has a soft side.

just one of the three new scars on my tummy

They told me my appendix wasn't about to rupture but it was inflamed and congested. I struggled the first few days at home but then started to feel quite a bit better as each day passed. My parents were scrambling at home with my school and the insurance to get me home a week later with assistance since I couldn't lift any of my bags, let alone anything over 10 lbs. But they figured it out and my friend Rosa graciously agreed to help me get everything on the train to Madrid with me which was very sweet and we got to spend my last night together!  I owe a huge thank you to my parents, my host parents, Rosa, Pepa, and everyone who helped me through all of this at the last minute. You all are amazing.

I spent my extra week: recovering, saying more goodbyes, going to the university, going to the beach,  having afternoon tea at Rosa's with all of Pepa's family, spending a day at the colegio to say goodbye to my students and fellow professors. My students wrote me a get well/goodbye poster which was so sweet. And all of my students gave me rounds of applause when I went into each classroom to say goodbye. I cried all the way home, I was so moved. Saying goodbye to everyone in Spain was one of the hardest things I've ever experienced in my life. It broke my heart to leave all the people I'd met in Spain and every goodbye was bittersweet. I'm (embarrasingly) tearing up just writing this.

My students and me in the back with their sweet poster :)

Just having a goodbye crepe with my French friend Vincent...

Pepa, Rosa, and their adorable children

Goodbye dance down the Esplanada 

Rosa made lunch! 

freezing sea water

My last day at the University of Alicante

Afternoon tea with my tutees <3

Mi despedida 

Spain was an amazing experience and I truly lived my dream. I met incredible people, mastered a new language, experienced a new culture, traveled through Europe, and got to know myself a lot better. I couldn't have asked for a better year. It seriously was the best and happiest year of my life. I'm sort of in denial that I'm back home and the adjustment back has had it's challenges. But the rocky transition is totally worth the fact that I was able to spend a year in Spain. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Algún día, yo sé que volveré. Someday, I know I'll be back.

Thanks for reading about my year in Spain. Hopefully I'll be posting about it again in the near future. Besos <3

I love you, Spain!!!
Madrid, España 

Denmark, Sweden, & Hungary

This is clearly a late post due to many events which you will soon read about but I wanted to write this for my sake before I forgot everything!

Dinamarca

The weekend after Amsterdam, Kiersten and I ventured off to Copenhagen, Denmark and stayed with my cousin Greg and his wonderful family. Greg, his wife Trine, and his two young daughters Molli Malou and Maddie, were so kind and welcoming. I loved being able to stay with family. They were awesome!

Nyhavn with Kiersten and my lil cousins

On Saturday, the day we arrived, Trine made us a really nice traditional Danish lunch and then we all headed off to downtown Copenhagen. Greg and Trine showed us all the main spots: popular squares, the church in which they were married, and Nyhavn (most picturesque part of the city) to name a few.

Hamlet's Castle

On Sunday, Greg took us out on a day trip to Helsinger which is on the coast and is also where "Hamlet's Castle" lies. Kiersten and I took a tour of the underground old prison part of the castle (creepy and dark, yet cool) and then we walked around the whole castle and took some lovely photographs. Then we decided to hop on a ferry over to Helsingborg, Sweden which was once, and possible still is, the rivaling city of Helsinger. We walked around the little town, had some lunch, and walked around a little carnival fair before heading back to Denmark (nothing too exciting but now I can say I've been to Sweden!). Greg drove us back to his house along the coast which had really pretty views and then we had a lovely roast for dinner, which is a traditional Danish meal, much like one they might have for Christmas dinner. So that was really sweet of Trine and Greg to put on for us.

On the ferry!

Helsingborg, Sweden

The Little Mermaid

On Monday, Greg drove us back into Copenhagen to see the famous "Little Mermaid" which in fact is quite little and I don't quite understand the fuss about it. But it was cool. Then we walked to the Royal Palace. We couldn't go inside but we at least got to see the outside of it and the awesome guards surrounding the doors. Then we walked around some more of the city, had some Thai food for lunch, said goodbye to Greg and walked around/shopped until it was time to take the subway to the airport. It was a quick trip but still totally worth it. And I really enjoyed getting to know Greg and his family. I totally would go back!

The Royal Palace

Another shot of Nyhavn

Budapest, Hungría

The weekend after Copehagen, Kiersten and I took our last trip together this year in Europe. Traveling to Budapest, Hungary marked the 12th and final country I visited this year. And it was definitely a great city to end on! It was absolutely beautiful and the weather couldn't have been better (we finally were out of our winter coats and actually could sport some shorts!).

The Danube

Our first real day was Saturday because arrived really late Friday night. We stayed at another Airbnb apartment which was super cute and very convenient. On Saturday we basically walked all of Budapest (both the Buda and Pest sides). We stayed on the Pest side so we started out by going to their famous Central Market Hall which was huge and full of souvenirs, produce, and spices. We ate lunch at a soup and sandwich place that was so cheap and super scrumptious (we went back on our last day too). We continued walking along Váci utca (utca means street) which was basically a long shopping and touristy street but we were told we HAD to experience it. We also walked past St. Stephen's Basilica and Budapest's beautiful Opera House. We grabbed some ice cream and crossed the Danube River over to Margaret Island for a short break in the shade. Then we continued to cross to the Buda side of the river where we got a wonderful view of the Parliament Building. We decided to hike up to Buda Castle which had amazing views of the entire city including Parliament and the Chain Bridge. At this point we were getting hungry and tired so we crossed the Chain Bridge back over to Pest and picked up some food at the store to make dinner. I ended up getting super dehydrated despite our attempts to keep the water flowing throughout the day, so I ended up passing out at 9 p.m. and slept for 12 hours straight.

Buda Castle

Favorite picture of Kiersten 

Parliament Building 

St. Stephen's Basilica 

On Sunday we decided to take a day off and relax. We hit up the baths! Our Airbnb host, as well as others, had recommended Széchenyi thermal baths which we agreed were great! We had some serious issues trying to pay for the subway to get to the baths, but eventually we made it. The subway/light-rail system really wasn't all that challenging but every time we tried to buy tickets, the machines were always out of order so we may or may not have rode the subway for "free" a couple of times...

Széchenyi Baths

We had a great time at the baths getting in and out of different temperature pools both inside and out. We even got massages which was fantastic after our long day of walking the day before. I think we spent about 4 or 5 hours at the baths and then decided to head back to grab dinner. We found a place called "The Hummus Bar" and feeling very hummus deprived from living in Spain, we went a little overboard. But again, the food was amazing and super cheap.

The feast 

Central Market Hall

On Monday before heading to the airport, Kiersten and I did some souvenir and spice shopping at the market hall. She and I both were feeling slightly congested and tired so we took it easy until it was time to grab a taxi and head back to Spain. Our taxi ride was quite possibly the most exciting and frightening  part of the entire day. We got in the taxi and it immediately started pouring (and by pouring I mean like monsoon). It was raining so hard we couldn't see out of the car past about 2 yards in front of us which was terrifying considering the taxi driver was driving a million miles an hour and taking turns like we were in a police chase. The driver also kept the front windows slightly open so as Kiersten and I were progressively getting mildly soaked, I was starting to say my goodbyes to my family and friends in my head...

But as you've probably suspected, we're alive.

Ireland, Germany, & Amsterdam

Hello! So much has happened since my last blog post, I've been too busy to post!


Irlanda

Mom and I said goodbye to the boys on the 5th and headed to Ireland, which is one of my new favorite places in the world. We stayed at this old-fashioned yet super classy hotel called The Gresham in the heart of Dublin. It was lovely - I kept telling Mom that I thought we were on the Titanic ;) Our first night in, we didn't do a whole lot except get Mom a coat so she could stop freezing her butt off. We went out for sushi (the first time for me in a long time) and had some wine in the bar downstairs when we got back.

Cooking class in Howth

Zuppe di pesce 

The next morning we got up and took the Dart out to Howth (a little town on the coast) for our cooking class in a castle!! Our class was Italian themed so we made Zuppe di pesce, lemon roasted potatoes, stuffed and baked aubergine (the fancy european word for 'eggplant'), panzanella stuffed chicken breasts, and a raspberry and chocolate semi-freddo. Yum! And we met some cool people from Ireland who were all super sweet and gave us advice on places to go in Dublin.

Howth

The castle!  

Dublin

St. Patrick's Cathedral

High Tea

I found Dublin as a sort of smaller, quaint little London. I loved it. Unfortunately, Mom and I had some issues with the museums; a lot of the ones we wanted to visit were closed and/or being renovated. We did go to part of the Modern Art Museum (the part that wasn't closed), and the National Museum which had tons of cool stuff (Viking ships, medieval artifacts, and creepy bog bodies, to name a few). We also saw a bit of Trinity College, toured around a bit in Temple Bar (the hipper part of town), and ate at Queen of Tarts which had scrumptious food. We went inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, saw a movie in theaters (another thing I hadn't done in forever), went on a tour in Kilmainham Prison, and went to a pub! One of my favorite parts of the trip was Afternoon Tea with champagne (Mom went all out and spoiled me).

Powercourt Estate

Pet Cemetery 

To get away from the city, we went out to Enniskerry one day to see Powerscourt Estate. Today the mansion that remains has been renovated into a nice cafeteria and cute, but over-priced shops. But the gardens were the reason we went. We didn't quite hit it at the right time, but the Japenese gardens were still pretty and we saw some things starting to come into bloom. My personal favorite was the Pet Cemetery where, literally, the family had burried all of their pets (dogs, horses, cows, you name it...).




Alemania

After Ireland, Mom and I headed to Germany. We stayed just outside Munich's city center in a cute little apartment. Munich wasn't all we'd hoped for but that's okay, because the real reason for the trip was so that Mom could go to her favorite yarn store for the first, and maybe only, time in her life.

Munich

Let me first just say that Munich's transportation system was a pain in the a**. I think we spent more time figuring out the transportation system then doing much of anything else. I've done London and Paris' transportation systems, but man, something about Munich's was just not super straightforward.

Anywho, when were weren't trying to read subway maps in German, Mom and I explored a couple of Museums and the streets of Munich. We went to the Deutsch Museum which honestly was kind of lame. It said it was an interactive science and technology museum, but all the exhibits that I tried to play with were broken. I felt like a sad little kid. But it had a couple of cool exhibits like the Gutenberg printing presses and a super neat "photography through the years" exhibit. We also went to a Modern Art museum which was supposed to have a bunch of impressionist works. Instead it was mostly dark and creepy German paintings with a few impressionist paintings, that clearly weren't good enough for bigger art museums. That was a bit disappointing. We also went to the Royal palace which was cool, yet somewhat overwhelming that Mom and I finally had to just run for the exit. We decided we didn't want to go to the overly touristy Hofbrauhaus for a beer so we went to Augustinier Brew house instead which was phenomenal and the beer was fantastic!

The Palace

Crown Jewels!

Pfaffenhofen

Mom in buying her yarn.

Things got better when we left the city for a day to go out to Pfaffenhofen for Mom's yarn shopping spree. We took a train out and got to see the beautiful Bavarian countryside. And Pfaffenhofen is a just a little gem of a city. It was tiny but so cute, and the people couldn't have been friendlier. Mom bought loads of yarn and we chatted it up with the yarn shop's owner's friend, Dani, who spoke such perfect English, I couldn't believe it. She gave us a recommedation for lunch so we ended up having wiener shnitzel, a very typical Bavarian dish (which I have to say is quite delicious). 

Wiener Schnitzel 

Vuelto a Alicante

After about 3 and a half days in Munich, we had to return to Alicante because I had to go back to school (and because Mom's rusty German and my absolute inability to speak German just wasn't working out). I showed Mom around the town a bit more, we went to a super cool art museum, and she did some touring around on her own as well when I was in class. She stayed with my host family and I, and even despite language differences both of my "moms" adored each other. My host mom went all out with meals and even made paella so my mom could try it. Mom even met Pepa and the other ladies who work for my program and I showed her around the University of Alicante a bit. It was fun showing my mom my new world.

Amsterdam

The day after Mom left, Kiersten, Tonada, and I  jetted off to Amsterdam (as my host mom says, "I never stop moving"). I think Amsterdam may have moved to the top of my list of my favorite cities in Europe (London is close though!). And we hit it on such a beautiful weekend, it was so sunny and beautiful (still cold, but the sun was brilliant). We had looked on Airbnb for an apartment and ended up staying in this guys second half of an apartment. He was so chill and great to have around to answer all of our questions and give us tips. He even invited us out to a music gig and offered us some of his dinner one night.

We got in on Friday and after settling in, we headed straight to Anne Frank's house which was of course sad but very interesting. Afterwards, we went back to the apartment and made a nice dinner with wine. On Saturday we went the Hermitage museum which is temporarily hosting the Van Gogh museum because the actual one is being renovated. From there we walked to this area with all sorts of Asian cuisines because we had all been craving Thai food. Lunch was fabulous and we got our fix. Were were near the Red Light District so we took a stroll through there...yeah. We went to the NEMO which is a science museum (aimed at kids but we enjoyed it!). And we of course passed many a "coffee shop" when walking through town. And we totally had to stop and get fries which are everywhere in Amsterdam and come with delicious sauces. Yum.

Fries!!!

Tonada and I at the NEMO working on genetics

Thai food! 

Botanical Gardens

Tulip Museum

On Sunday, we tried to find the Purse and Bag museum but ended up stumbling upon a bunch of street artists so we all bought some art. We decided then to just head to the Botanical Gardens which were really pretty. We had lunch at a bagel place (another food item we'd been craving). Afterwards, we went over to this cute and hip little neighborhood called the Jordaan. We walked around. We went to the Tulip Museum and the Cheese Museum in the Jordaan (two of our best decisions). Then we headed to Leidseplein where lots of bars and restaurants are but that's also where we got tickets for a canal boat tour of the city. While we waited for our tour, we walked over to the Rijksmuseum just to see it (we all decided we'd have to come back to fully enjoy it because it would've eaten up our whole day to go inside). We took pictures in front of the 'I Amsterdam' sign and grabbed a Heineken before getting on the boat. Our tour was at sunset, so it was absolutely stunning passing through the canals. After the tour, we made friends with a Greek guy who talked us into eating at his restaurant and even gave us free alcohol as part of our meal. It was a good day. But the end of the trip came all too soon and we went back to Alicante on Monday.

Leidseplein

Our Greek Friend