Change

Well, Spring Break is officially over and I start classes again today. I didn´t really go anywhere far away on my break, but I enjoyed my time. For most of last week I just relaxed, read, and enjoyed the beautiful weather that has invaded Barcelona. On Thursday, my host parents left for their 5 day vacation, meaning I had the apartment to myself until Monday evening. It was spectacular to not have a schedule, to watch some TV in English, and to make myself a grilled cheese sandwich!! Don´t get me wrong, I am incredibly happy to be with my host parents, and I am grateful that they feed me and do my laundry and provide me with company. But it is nice to have just "me" time sometimes... and it is nice to be able to make food that I want to eat or am craving rather than just eating what is served to me. On Saturday morning, Trisha´s family came in to visit from the US. We all went together to mass at the Cathedral on Sunday morning, and it was absolutely beautiful. It was in Catalan, but I understood quite a bit of it. After lunch, I went with Trisha and her family to Park Guëll and we had a fantastic afternoon sightseeing. I´m getting quite used to this whole tour guide thing after having Kacie here two weeks ago!! On Monday morning, I spent more time with Trisha and her family, helping play tour guide. Then, yesterday, we went to Montserrat, which is a monastery about an hour (by train) outside of Barcelona. It was soooooo beautiful, and the weather was absolutely perfect. It has been so nice to spend some time with Trisha´s family, and I am so grateful that they invited me to do so much with them. Another exciting thing about their visit is that they brought girl scout cookies and other delicious sweets... Since Easter is over, I can eat sweets again, and believe me, I definitely ate my fill of them in the past few days!

On other topics, I have started to look at classes and registration stuff for next year, and I´m having a difficult time finding a way to fit everything in. I basically just have gen eds left, but the ones that I was hoping to take don´t seem to be offered in the Fall. I know I´ll figure it all out though. I am feeling better about all of my frustrations that I wrote about in my last post. I got a lovely email from one of my professors who reassured me that people at Manchester do care, and it helped me a lot. I also know that I would probably be frustrated with different or similar things even if I were on campus this year, because this just seems to be the time of year where I always get antsy and ready to be done. So, yes, I may still be slightly frustrated about things, but I know everything will work out..

Random, while walking down the street the other day, Trisha´s dad looked at her and me and said, "It just amazes me how comfortable you two are here!" It´s true, I am comfortable here in Barcelona... It is a home to me now. And as excited as I am about going home in less than 6 and a half weeks, I´ve started to realize how difficult it will be to say goodbye to my host parents, to my neighborhood, to the University, and to the city itself. I´ve cried tears over leaving home and coming here, and in a month and a half I´ll be crying tears over leaving this new home to go back to the old one. You know, for as much as I hate change, I sure put myself in "changing" situations quite frequently. Maybe that´s how I grow.