The End

The last few days here, really the last week here, has been the absolute best week of my life. It's so sad to be here, in the experience, but at the same time on the outside, watching it end. I'm actually running on 3 hours of sleep right now in the last two days so sorry if I make no sense. Anyways, my little remaining time was just spent with some of my favorite people in all of Spain, and that was what made it so awesome. Here's some of the amazing things that have happened lately:

I made chocolate chip cookies that finally turned out well!

I went to a pool party at Maria's house.

Made a really great new friend <3

Look right beyond the pool is the ocean!

So, there is this song that's popular in Spain right now. And I really like it, and took to learning all the words. Well, at a night out a few days ago, I actually met the singer! It turns out he is from Huelva, my city! I was starstruck to say the least, I love his song and I've never met anyone famous in my life. Well anyways, I went up to him and I was like "Hi, I'm your fan americana!" And he was just like "Really? Well sing me my song." Well at that point I couldn't remember the lyrics to the song for my life, even though I knew them by heart, but I was just like wait, I really do know it! And after a few seconds they came to me and I sang his song to him. He was like "Oh my gosh, this is awesome dude, an American fan! Give me a hug!" Um yeah, it was an amazing experience and I ended up talking with him for a lot longer, and I promised I'd share his song with the USA. So here it is, and here's my picture with him. It was an amazing night. (You'll see him in the video, he's the one that sings the repeating chorus, not the rap.)

We were walking back at 6 am on Tuesday night, after this fiesta where I met the singer, and Maria and I were just like "Let's go swimming!" Maria is my best friend in the entire world by the way. And we did, yes we are some chicas locas but night swimming was the coolest thing ever, especially in her illuminated pool.

I walked through my loved Mazagon for the last time, or until next summer at least. This wasn't really a happy thing but at least you can all see how beautiful my pueblo is. :)

On my very last evening, we jumped off the bridge that there is by my house. It was terrifying, I'm not gonna lie. People had recommended us not to do it, apparently there are tons of jellyfish in that area of water (and I have seen them before), but we all wanted to for my final night in Spain. And as frightening as it was, I wouldn't take back that experience for a second. It was an amazing adventure.

And the absolutely best thing of all, a bunch of my Spanish friends made me this video. It's one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me, and I will never ever forget all the kindness shown towards me in my year here. A todos en Mazagon: sois los mejores, nunca os olvidaré, gracias por todo lo que habéis hecho por mi, y nos vemos pronto.

Goodbye Lani

Saying goodbye to so many people here was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I feel like it's the end of an era. I know that's so dramatic, but I don't know when I will ever see many of them again and I so enjoyed sharing life with all of them. I have some of the best friends in all of Spain. Sin duda. Saying goodbye to my host family was heart-wrenching as well. I will never be able to thank them enough for all they've done for me.

I think this post puts a nice end to things, and there probably won't be any more posts from me while in Spain. This year for me has been hugely successful, and more than anything for all the amazing amazing people I have met. Thank you all for sticking with me and reading a long, I love you all.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you
Besos, Lani.

Life Lessons in Spain

 I've learned and been exposed to so many new things in my 10 months in Spain, and here I share with you all the best things that this country has taught me.


Good things can come out of awkward situations.
I had a pretty awkward introduction to one of the sweetest girls I've met here who has been so kind to me. And who I can now call one of my best Spanish friends. There's been a lot of those, actually. Awkward moments are common in the life of an exchange student, I'd say.

The most important things in life are the relationships and connections we make with other people.
There's a reason we are 7 billion people on this Earth and not just 100. People are meant to form connections with other people. That's how babies are born and new relations are created. That's not exactly my point with this one, but basically now I just talk to anyone. Because why be bored on a long bus ride when there's a perfectly talkable person sitting right beside you that you don't know anything about?

Just go for it.
The decision to come to Spain, (made that one overnight), travel to Barcelona/Madrid/or wherever it may be., to pierce my nose, all the little daily decisions.. have all been what you could say split-second decisions. It's not that I didn't think them through, but I certainly didn't over-think. I used to be someone that needed weeks to make a decision, I've learned to in the end just kinda go for whatever my intuition and my heart tell me. (within reason!) That everything will turn out well in the end. So Why Not?


Don't worry so much.
I'm a much more relaxed person now than how I was before this year. I've become much more laid-back, and that is surely due to how the Spaniards live. If you spent the whole morning talking to a friend you run into in the supermarket, oh well. There's always time to get done what you had planned on finishing. When you go out for lunch, the important thing is that everyone enjoys each others company and that the food is delicious. The lunch can last 5 hours, but that's okay. Life goes on. Just relaxxx.

How rewarding they are, and how much you learn from difficult experiences.
This year has been the most challenging year of my life. It has been a much-needed year, though, and therefore a good year. In the end, I, like many, am sad to go home. It's not that I don't want to, just that I don't want to leave my life here behind either. But the end was inevitable from the beginning.

So, USA, I'll see you in 4 days. Hasta luego, Spain.
Besos,
Lani

Barcelona.

So, two weekends ago, I had one of the coolest and most fun weekends of my life with a bunch of amazing friends in Barcelona. We (Milena, Shawn, and I) stayed at Albert and Julia's house. So that's Milena from Switzerland, Shawn from the US (Arizona), Me from Ohio (yay), Albert from Spain, and Julia from Austria. Julia is staying at Albert's house as an exchange student this year so that's kinda how we all met each other. I couldn't have asked for anything more from my precious time spent in Barcelona (except for maybe a little bit of warmer weather ;) .. So I will just let the pictures do most of the talking.

Firstly...traveling there.

Bus

Plane

That's the city of Barcelona!

Trains in Barcelona

 A bunch of random pictures of the city...just because.

Milena <3

In Plaza de Catalunya, the big center plaza in Barcelona:

 I was reunited with Subway after almost 9 months:

And they had this really high-tech drink machine.

My absolute favorite thing about Barcelona, this market!!!
LA BOQUERIA!

Oh yes.

Fruit smoothie drinks, 1 euro each

A stand dedicated entirely to eggs.

And my favorite foods :)

The Beach:

Why don't we have this in the US?!? soo yummy

Germany, Spain, and the US

Then, we climbed up to see an awesome view of Barcelona:

Love these guys so much

Other little snapshots of Barcelona:

The flags of Catalunya

So gorgeous.. the port of Barcelona

Thank you all for keeping up with my adventures! Even though there's less then a month left, I still have lots of fun to come! Hope everyone is doing well. x

Besos, Lani.