The end :(

“Why can't we get all the people together in the world that

we really like and then just stay together? I guess that

wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves.

Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes.

I know what I need. I need more hellos.”

- Charles Schultz

My semester in Spain is finally coming to an end and I couldn't me more sad about it. The past two days have been full of spending lots of time with friends and lots of tearful goodbyes (ugh!).

Here are a few pictures from my last week here:

Maura sent me this package last week... a wawa shirt
HAHA mustve known i was missing wawa. (notice all the
stamps she used to send it lol)

There is a bar called Austin that hangs a bunch of American college
shirts for all the abroad students, and they let students sign them when
they leave

signing the shirt with a little tribute to gary williams

me and bobby

bianca, corey, me

jen and i!

roommates plus steph before  our last beer pong night at Mulligans

me and Ryan!

last little 'family' dinner. I made chorizo chili, ryan
made garlic rice and brought bread and pesto, and
bianca made artichoke dip. and bobby brought ... wine.

Some of my favorites in Alicante at family dinner -
Jen, Taylor M, Bobby, Bianca, Ryan, Taylor R and Corey

Corey and I with our program director, Luis, and another USAC
director, Veronica

Spending a semester abroad has been better than I could have ever possibly imagined. When i went back to Madrid a few weeks ago, it was such a wierd feeling thinking about how much has changed since I first stepped off that plane in Madrid back in January. I knew absolutely no one, spoke zero spanish, and had little confidence in my ability to find my own way around a huge city. I remember being so nervous I would have no friends, wouldnt get along with my roommates, would have no one to travel with, etc. Since i didnt go far away for college, this was my first time going somewhere completely out of my comfort zone where I was completely alone! Obviously all of those worries went away when I met the best group of friends and got 4 amazing room mates. I honestly can't imagine having a better experience.

I seriously think that studying abroad should be a requirement. At the very least colleges should make it easy for all students to be able to take classes abroad regardless of their major. UMD made it VERY difficult for me as an education major which I think is absurd - I am 100% confident I will be a better teacher and a better overall person after my experiences abroad. I know so much more about other cultures, and am so much more independent. I have definitely learned more during one semester abroad than I have in all my years in school... so worth it!

I feel like in my 5ish months here I have accomplished pretty much everything I wanted to do. By the time I go home next week I will have visited 11 countries (17 major cities) that spoke 5 different foreign languages. That is, in total, 24 different flights! People always ask me how a weekend could possibly be enough time to see some of the cities I've been to, but you'd be surprised how much we were able to see and do in such a short period of time. Im so glad we were able to make the best of all of our travel time.. I still cant believe I've been all the places I have!

Probably the only thing I wish I had done was learn more Spanish. It was definitely a difficult balance between trying to see as much of europe as possible and trying to learn spanish. It was hard to go a week of speaking spanish followed by a 3 day weekend of speaking only in english, then switching back to spanish, etc. I wish i had more time because then i could have spent half the year learning spanish and half the year travelling!

I can't possibly sum up my study abroad experience without a little shoutout to the people at USAC who made it all happen for all of us! USAC is an amazing, incredibly well-run program. I am pretty sure Alicante is the best place to go because I find it hard to believe there could be anyone better to run a study abroad program than Luis, Veronica and Sylvain. They put up with all of our crap and were there for anything we needed at the drop of a hat! The 3 of them are some of the nicest people I've ever met and there is no way they could possibly get paid enough for the amount of time, effort and care they put into their jobs. I am definitely going to miss them!

I know I've said this enough but I just still cant believe I'm sitting here writing a blog about the end of my semester abroad. This is something that I planned and saved for and looked forward to for 3 years and it went by in an instant! It hasn't hit me yet that this is all over, and I'm not going to wake up tomorrow and go to the market, or climb to the castle, or lay out on the beach. It is definitely very surreal. I feel very fortunate that my closest friend I've met here also goes to Maryland, but it was so hard to say goodbye to my roommates and just Alicante in general. This place will always have a huge piece of my heart and I can't wait to come back again someday!

I guess the best way to end would be to go through some of my favorite memories from my time here:

- The first time we all climbed to the castle and having that first "wow.. i live here" moment
- My first weekend trip to Brussels and Amsterdam
- Maura's visit
- Paris: Eating escargot, bottles of wine with aussies under the eiffel tower, Staying in Cooking a french meal with Maura's cousin Tim
- Dublin: fun times with good friends, making it just in time for st paddys day festivities
- My parents visit and my Aunt's visit - getting to show them around Alicante!
- Switzerland with my parents and Corey - Montreux is tied with the Aran Islands for my favorite place in Europe!
- Getting to Montreux and taking the train to the mountains and realizing I was standing in the swiss alps
- My 21st birthday
- Going to Prague alone and having it be such a success!
- Spring break with my brother
- Bike ride around the Aran Islands
- Rock climbing with Corey
- Kayaking and windsurfing in March
- Cooking class!
- When my parent's and aunts came to cook for me and my roommates
- Barcelona and bombas con mis tias
- Sitting in Delirium in Brussels for hours and trying a million different types of beer
- Every time I ran into someone from Maryland (while walking up to the castle one day wearing a maryland shirt, a guy started chanting 'lets go duke!' it was like my worst nightmare coming true!)
- Every Kebab outing (especially in Granada)
- Arab baths in Granada
- All the wine nights spent sitting around our dining room table

I leave in just a few hours for one final trip. One of my best friends Colleen is coming to visit with her boyfriend Phil and his friend Mark. We are meeting in Rome and will be there for 3 days and then we will be in Santorini, Greece for 5 days. I leave in a few hours when I will fly from Alicante to Liverpool, have a 6 hour overnight layover there (what fun!) then fly from Liverpool to Rome and will get there around 10:30 am. It will be a long time to travel so I just can't wait to get to Rome and see everyone! I have to check one of my bags (because I have most of my stuff from the semester) so that will be a whole new experience .. I'll try to get some pics of me trying to carry all this stuff because I'm sure its going to be pretty entertaining for everyone but me!

Though I am unbelievably sad to leave I cant wait for this last trip and then I will be very excited to get home and just stay put for a little while. I will be perfectly content with not getting on another airplane any time soon! I can't wait to see everyone and get to the pool!

Thanks to everyone who has been reading this all semester... hope I kept it interesting enough for you all! Stay tuned for one last update about Rome and Greece! :)