reverse culture shock

So I'm back.  Sadly.  I feel like the past 4 months have been a dream.  It feels like they never happened.  But in reality, the past 4 months have been the best 4 months of my life.  I traveled all over Europe, met tons and tons of amazing people, and learned to be a madrileña.  Nothing can ever replace that experience. But now it's on to reverse culture shock.

All day Thursday (starting Wednesday night actually), the tears kept rolling.  I was a never-ending waterfall.  I was exhausted, physically and emotionally.  But now that I don't have any tears left in my body, I'm much better.  Learning to be back in American culture is such a strange sensation.

• I keep reaching for the horizontal door handles but they're knobs...
• Toilets here have side flushers, not the button on the top
• The light switch flips the opposite way
• I FINALLY have hot water in my shower and sink!!
• My room is hugeeee and my closet is HUGE...like so many clothes
• I had to relearn how to drive...almost crashed, whoops
• I don't have to climb 3 flights of stairs to my house
• My bed here is literally a princess bed
• I miss ham

It's going to take a while to get back into the swing of things (and back on to this time zone!).  I really really miss Spain and can't wait to go back.  America has its pros, but I miss tapas and sangria. I also am terrified to lose my Spanish.

I miss all my friends terribly (ope, tearing up) and wish they were closer to me. Can't wait for a reunion in the future!!

casi el fin

so im sitting at SLU, just finished my second final. The first two went well, I think I'll survive.  Not too sure if i'll live through my last one on wednesday.  today is monday, i leave thursday. WHAAAT?! i'm literally so so so sad, i can't even describe.  i'm trying to live it up during my last couple days here in spain....but it's hard to do when it's raining and i have to study for finals.  and today it's finally nice out but a) i had a final and b) our window is broken in our room so it won't open. so basically im going to sit in my stuffy room looking outside at the nice weather and be taunted. not fair.

also two new girls came to live in our house yesterday who are in madrid for 2 weeks.  sadly, they're really nice and cool and i really like them.  too bad we only have 4 days with them. they go to school in south carolina and hopefully i'll get to know them a little during the little time we have with them.

on saturday, sol and josé decided to take the 4 of us to a small town called Chinchón, about an hour south of madrid.  it was actually a really fun day.  we weren't gone for too long.  and sol brought Luna (our dog) too!  We danced to the radio the whole way down, and drove through the middle of nowhere.  and then we got to this tiny little old town that was adorable.  we got desserts called palmeras de chocolate and  walked into the famous plaza.  there were donkeys that you could ride around on.  it's a medieval town so everything was sooo old. then we went to this bakery that makes custom breads that you can get like your name on it...or they made a real madrid logo one. so cool.  then we just walked around.  we also drove through this pretty town called arajuez that was nearby and had a really pretty plaza too.  it was so nice of sol and josé to bring us there and take time out of their day!

okay, now back to crying and being depressed about leaving