Viva Espana!

Green hills surrounded us. A large valley was below us. Our futures were ahead of us, but we only wanted to be here. "This is it!" my friend Kyler smiled. "This is what life is about." We were sitting in the foothills of Spain, celebrating the end of our program with 38 of our closest new friends, about to leave behind five months of laughs, headaches, and late night dinners. We were college kids, young and excited, far from the Rockies where we grew up but comfortable in these mountains just the same. We were having fun, learning alot and having adventures everyday. How could it be time to go home?

We were gone for almost a half year, arriving with little Spanish, not quite knowing what to expect. As soon as she arrived to pick me up, I knew which woman was to be my Spanish mom. She had crazy curly hair, like me, but dyed red. Her lipstick was orange and her sweater was white, setting off her pretty skin. A bit older than my mother, she moved slower but spoke faster, apologizing for being late. I didn't mind, I said in broken Spanish, no accent yet. Outside the hotel, her boyfriends car was waiting. It was tiny, and I had to sat on top of my luggage, full of what I thought I would need while I was away.

We get to the apartment and have a simple dinner. I am so jet lagged, and tired from a late night in Madrid the night before, that I almost fall asleep. I am awoken from my restless dreams by a stranger in tears. The girl who is to be my roomate. She is reading the Bible and looking at pictures of her boyfriend. I am already allergic to the smoke and the dog in the apartment - I don't think I can have a party pooper as well. I pretend I am sleeping and wonder how to switch families.

In the morning, I wake up and introduce myself. Katie is fantastic! She is similar to me in the fact that gave herself the room to cry, but will not cry again until she is saying good-bye to me five months later. I realize that first impressions are not always true and that I have to stay with my crazy family who fights constantly, pretends their son isn't gay and has a dog that they haven't cleaned and found in a gutter. It was the right decision.

Back to Kyler. We had been friendly at school but once we arrived in Spain, we bonded. There were 5 schools represented here, all small private schools from the Northwest. Never had the group been as been cohesive as ours, in the 15 years that our director had maintained his role. Individual differences were counteracted by the fact that we were all there to learn and all open to adventure (the party atmosphere of Andalucia didn't hurt). I have never stayed up so late on such a consistent basis. I have never been drunk on such a consistent basis. I have never studied at bars since. I have never learned so much- about life, what I wanted and the culture of a beautiful country.

From my host families debates, as well as Telenovelas (La Verdad de Lara was a hit), I learned Spanish. From my roomate, I learned patience and how to play drinking games. From my friend Amber, I learned how to drink and wear bandanas as a top. From myself, I realized I needed more alone time than the average bear and that I wasn't a natural speaker, but was a natural mimic and could use that to my advantage. Nine years have passed and I can remember things vividly. I think its time to go back.