Scratching my itch to travel in FIVE DAYS as I head down south to visit an absolutely wonderful man. I think I’ll bring him home with me afterwards :)
Vaminos.
I haven’t logged into this blog account in awhile— seeing so many of your lovely travel blogs makes me miss Spain even more!
what is love?
(baby don’t hurt me..)
Okay, I’m assuming this Anon sent a question in about 4 different asks and none of them besides this one made much sense. I got, “why people were created to be loved. things were created to be used. the reason the world is in chaos is because things are being loved, and people are being used?” twice, “how to show love” in another, and then this.
Basically, I believe the world is a beautiful place. The people in it can make it seem ugly. We have different opinions of what is important— some focus on things and use people while others focus on people and use things. The imbalance of focus creates heartache, but the bad definitely helps allow you to appreciate the good. Love comes in many forms— one way you can try to define the emotion is that it’s some sort of connection of care between two beings in which you’re to some degree intrigued by, attracted, and addicted to each other. You can show it by treating others how you’d like to be/how they deserve to be treated.
Anonymous 
Portugal es infravalorado.
Portugal does not receive the amount of credit it deserves. Stereotypically, when people think of traveling Europe, the biggest marvels seem to be England, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Germany. Don’t get me wrong, those places are all amazing, but Portugal definitely should be on that list. I was mesmerized by that little country. My first impression was: oh my gosh it reminds me of home! (as in home back in the states— very beachy). I went with three Michiganers, and as we explored the capital city, we defined Portugal as a big mixture city. We saw a lot of Roman, Moorish, Mexican, Madrileño, and Florida style buildings. It was beautiful.
Mejores amigos.
Last week, I witnessed that some people are blessed with friends here as awesome as mine are in the states. One of the Spanish guys I roll with left to study abroad in Munich for six months. A group of us went out with him to celebrate/wish him well. Before the party, his friends surprised him with a collage of pictures of some of their favorite memories. They wrote la familia está contigo on the poster (your family is with you). The guy was so happy to receive this gift. That group of guys is extremely close. We had a lot of fun our last night all together— we went to a discoteca near the beach and danced the night away.
Las palabras de Brandon.
Brandon Boyd, your words are absolutely beautiful. In response to your pondering on why people follow your music, my reason is because it affects my life. There are certain songs that, to me, are so profound and influential, I couldn’t not stay addicted.
Success is a devilish opiate. A swift and heady drink that goes down smooth at first, and then starts to burn your throat and rattle your bones. Only to leave crater sized holes in your constitution the next day. We all love a good success story, don’t we? But interestingly, what usually makes it ‘good’ are not the ‘good’ things about the story. No. It’s the bad things that perk our ears up. It’s the tragedy inherent in the struggle that keeps us tuned in. I am in a band called Incubus. We are all about the same age; and we started our band in 1991. Our story is not unlike other success stories. It has its peaks and valleys, its struggles, its triumphs, its highest highs and lowest lows. But it’s not the bad parts of our unfolding story that have intrigued people over all of these years. To tell you the truth, I am not sure exactly what has kept people interested in us this long. I’d like to think it’s the music we make and ultimately share. I’d like to think it’s because we have struck chords with people at very specific times in their lives and that when they hear certain songs they are harkened back to the not so distant past wherein life changing events and turns in their own stories coincided with lyrics and rhythms. Sounds meandering into symmetry with an individual’s psyche like that rare moment when your body and your shadow line up on a wall. If the music has been the true catalyst for our (once again) unfolding success story, than I’d say we were right on track. Perhaps we are wanderers who have tasted the drug, smiled and mused at the kaleidoscope it wrought, then woke the next day, shook it off and kept truckin’.
Source: brandonboydoffical
No estoy lista para sentar la cabeza.
All in all, I had a wonderful time in Italy, but man am I so glad that I live in Spain. You know a place is like home when you return and feel that rush of serenity. These past few days here have been great— I spent one full day recuperating from the lack of sleep and the overload of awesome Italian adventures. I’ve spent two days at the beach with LaManda. I went to a huge party for the graduation of the medical students with a great group of Spanish guys. We went to one of their apartments to watch the final Champions League fútbol game [Barcelona vs. Madrid]. All but one was rooting for Barca, and to their dismay, Barca lost the overtime 0-1. It was intense. Personally, I was so stoked to see Shakira! I’ve never been in the same city as the star and tried to convince the guys to come find her with me. We ended up just partying after. Not a shabby plan B. I love those boys!
Another night, I went to a bar with LaManda and met her Spanish friend— one of the few Valencian girls I’ve met that I have really liked! In my opinion, the girls here are really cold. I’ve met one pretty big group of girls that I think are awesome and there is also one girl who is absolutely hysterical that I have played poker and basketball with. Other than that, they’re pretty cold shoulderesque. Unapproachable. I’m a very outgoing, friendly person and I even have difficulties getting to know the ladies here. I’ve asked the guys about it and they say that’s just the way it is here— most relationships start because the girl has known the guy for a really long time from the pueblos they are originally from (most of the university students live in little towns on the outskirts of the city; they live in flats in the center during the week and return home over the weekends). The two girls and I spent a few hours dissecting life and what we want out of it. We’ve all traveled abroad and it really does open ones eyes to so much. There is so much out there. I want to see more. To learn and experience more. So do they. We don’t want the typical American dream and the success and the money. We want to adventure. So we’re going to live to our definition of the word live. We talked about how being comfortable and being happy are not the same and how we are not going to settle for anything less than happiness. It made me kind of excited for whatever path I choose when I graduate in a year. Girls’ night with sangria and great conversation always makes for a good night.
Tonight, I’m saying goodbye to one of the guys because he’s leaving for Munich for six months! I can’t believe the goodbye process is starting… I leave in less than two weeks and a trip to Portugal is right around the corner. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun.
Italia: Día 5 de 6: La Última Noche
[continued from previous entry] LaManda and I woke up with a mission. We had promised our host that we would make him breakfast, so we headed to the grocery store on base: heaven. We haven’t seen American brand/types of food since January. It’s funny what you take for granted. I couldn’t help but buy a jar of peanut butter. I almost spent five dollars on a small bag of peanut butter M&M’s, but I figured since I’ll be home in a few weeks, I can just wait. Don’t need the calories anyways.. *but I want!* Anyways. We bought ingredients for bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits; pancake mix; and surprisingly, I bought a Cosmo magazine. For those of you who don’t actually know me, I am not a girly girl at all. I know little to nothing about celebrities and have never had a subscription to any sort of magazine— won’t lie, I very much enjoyed having this gossipy, sexual ‘zine to entertain me on the plane ride back to Spain. After the best breakfast I’ve had this entire semester abroad [Spaniards do not believe in breakfast. They drink some espresso and maybe gobble down a small pastry or cracker.], we watched a movie and then headed back to the train station to return to Rome.
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Semester in Spain
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Hola. Bonjour. Aloha. Guten tag. Shalom. Ciao. Privet. مرحبا. And most commonly for me: hello. I'm an American girl spending a semester in Spain, blogging about it.
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