The Things You Miss

Me and my Soul Roommate

Today is December 1st, so my semester abroad in Spain is officially drawing to a close. I figure I will dedicate my last few posts to reflecting on my time here. Today I'm going to talk about the things you find yourself missing the most when you spend time in another country: both expected and unexpected. The obvious ones are my friends and family, my dog, my home state, my sport, my university, and just the feeling of belonging. No matter how well I blend in because of the fact that I can for the most part pass as being Spanish, there will always be moments when you feel utterly American, and you know that others know it. Examples usually involving talking to people in stores. My Spanish is pretty good, but it is clear within a few sentences that I am not fluent. What I hate the most is when they start speaking to you in English. When they start doing that I stubbornly refuse to respond to them in English. If it is a waiter, they may spend the rest of my time there speaking to me in English, and I will continue to speak in Spanish.

Me playing Squash for Wellesley

Anyways, I digress. Another expected thing you find yourself missing is the food. What I found for me was, it wasn't so much home cooked meals that I missed. I eat excellent home cooked meals every day with my host family. What I have missed most are all my favorite restaurants/fast food places: Papa Johns, Thai food, Sushi, Vietnamese pho, the Indian place at the mall back home, and last but certainly not least, Chipotle/Qdoba. Everyone laughs at that, but if you surveyed all the PRESHCO students, the fast food joint that everyone misses the most is Chipotle. My mouth waters just thinking about it.

Gingerbread houses with the Girls

Now the things you find yourself missing that you never would have expected. Starbucks. They are everywhere in the US, you can't walk more than two blocks without seeing one. We complain about how many there are, but then you go to Spain and there might be one in only the bigger cities. There is no Starbucks in Cordoba. Every chance I got I made sure to buy myself a chai tea latte from Starbucks. I have had 3 total in my semester here. Every time I could it was amazing. Just something that is so familiar, so much like home. The concept of getting hot drinks to go is not really embraced here in Spain. I tried to explain it to my host parents, and they concluded that we Americans are just in much more of a hurry than they are.

Me with my parents

Another thing I find myself missing is efficiency. Just in general. It's horrible to stereotype, but even the Spaniards admit that they aren't the greatest about such things as timeliness. A phrase that is used all the time here is "No pasa nada," which means "Nothing's going on" or more commonly "It's all good." So you could be trying to get somewhere, and the bus is really really late, and the people in charge of the bus will be like, "No pasa nada." Being late doesn't really bother them, which is something that drives me nuts. Also, most stores take FOREVER to do anything. There could be 15 people standing in line, and there will only be one cash register open. And they won't call anybody else over to help get the line moving faster. I was at a Starbucks once, and there were three people working, but one of them just stood off to the side chatting with her co-workers, and the other two just kind of moseyed along. In these moments, I miss the frenzied atmosphere of the US. At least stuff is getting done.

Me and my sister representing our home state Oregon

All in all, there are a lot of things I can't wait to experience again when I get back to the US. I'm excited to see all the Christmas decorations everywhere, which don't seem to be quite as popular here. I have loved being in Spain, and in a later post I will talk about all the things I will miss after I'm gone. I will end this post with a picture of the thing that always lets me know that I'm home after I land in the Portland Airport.