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I got home last night, and one of the first things I saw when I got into the airport was:

Oh, America. I'm so happy to be back.

My Last Spain Blog

I just finished packing and was about to pack up my computer, but decided I should probably write a final blog first. Overall, this year has been really amazing but I'm happy I get to go home. I just wanted to say a final thanks to everyone in my program for everything. I'm going to miss you guys a ton.

I Will NOT Miss Spain

Even though I'm going to miss Spain a lot and the second I step on the airplane I'm going to have some instant nostalgia issues, as of now I want to get the hell out of here. Reasons I will not miss Spain:

- Everyone has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
- This morning on the train (at 7am) people were skateboarding up and down the aisles, running into innocent bystanders. They would apologize profusely, then continue their mission to wreak havoc on the train. Douchebags.
- Loudness is EVERYWHERE. Especially in the form of vespas without mufflers.
- It went from uncomfortably hot where I can't even sleep at night to pouring rain so heavily I was drenched within seconds of leaving my apartment, even though I had an umbrella.
- I purchased said umbrella a few days ago and it's already broken because nothing in this country actually works.
- My cell phone has to be recharged with money regularly. The going rate to call people with other service providers: €1. 20 per minute.
- Even though I have been here for exactly a year (as of today), people still start speaking to me in broken English when I speak to them in Spanish. My Spanish is that bad.
- All the food is mediocre.
- I constantly feel sick and and acquiring new health problems by the instant. My finger has been jammed for a month, limiting my ability to write. I broke out in hives today (for one of the first times in my life) because it was raining.
- My internet is perpetually broken.
- I'm down to knowing 3 people in Spain: Rosé, Ros, and Marc. Everyone else has left.

Two more days. America, here I come. I hear there are fatties everywhere (according to Ross), but at this point I really don't care.

Joanna

This morning, Marc and I took Joanna to the airport. Since Joanna was essentially one of my first friends in Spain, it's REALLY UPSETTING that she's gone. I still can't get over it. I was reading her blog (j0clay.blogspot.com) and she was summarizing things she enjoyed from this year and the majority of them were things I was also there for. It made me pretty nostalgic. Even though I'm sure I'll see her soon, this is really weird.

Spanish Spelling

French:Americans::English:Spaniards

In the US, we find products with French on the label to be exotic and of higher quality. Oddly enough (probably because it's also 6000 miles foreign), Spanish people feel the same way about English. Unluckily, Spaniards only have 5 vowel sounds, so to replicate English noises they have to alter the spelling (and, beyond the vowel issue, things are just pronounced differently here believe it or not). Some stuff I've seen in the past week:

Flaixbac Radio (ix=sh in Catalan)
Estriptis (Eh-Striptease for all you non-Spanish speakers)

I swear there are more examples out there, but that's all I have for now.

Pamplona

I went to Pamplona for Running with the Bulls (I didn't run), which was pretty predictable. It's better to watch on TV, though. I put photos on Facebook but none of them are that good because it was dark and I didn't have anything to prop my camera on, so everything is pretty blurry. It was fun, overall. Also, going to Pamplona was one of my main goals for the year and since I'm going home in four days it's a good thing I got to see it.

Flight

I just called United to request a window seat for my flight home and they informed me that one of my connecting flights was moved and I now need to change my ticket. Unluckily, all of the offices are closed because it's the weekend so I need to call back on Monday (coincidentally, when I will be in San Sebastian). I need to do something to up my karma.

I'm Ready

I'm ready to move out of my apartment. There has been a glass of urine sitting on the counter in my bathroom for the last week. I'm not sure which of my roommates put it there, but I suspect Rosé. I'm not talking about a sealed, plastic cup. I'm talking about a glass that I used to drink out of that I cannot distinguish from the rest of our glasses. I will now invest in a pack of water bottles.

Instant Messaging

I have a younger sister named Brett (for all of you that aren't in my immediate family and don't know this, she's the one on the left):

Recently she's been online a lot, and likes to IM me. She's probably the nicest of my family members, but she's really spacey and obviously gets really excited/overwhelmed by AIM conversations. Unless you know her, this conversation probably won't be that interesting: (Actually, even if you know her you might not find this super interesting, for some reason everything she does kind of fascinates me since I've known her since she was born.)

1:25:50 AM Hillary: hey!
1:25:58 AM Betty: hhheeeyy
1:26:03 AM Betty: mom there
1:26:12 AM Hillary: no, she's on her way back
1:26:12 AM Betty: i love you
1:26:15 AM Hillary: love you too
1:26:18 AM Betty: <3
1:26:35 AM Betty: sso
1:26:46 AM Betty: howd it go with mom there
1:26:58 AM Hillary: it was really fun
1:27:10 AM Betty: really? great!
1:27:18 AM Hillary: how was it back home without her there?
1:27:31 AM Betty: I m excited shes coming home
1:28:11 AM Betty: bab ok good im a slow typer
1:28:36 AM Betty: good
1:29:00 AM Betty: 3 ichats going
1:29:39 AM Hillary: who else are you talking to?
1:31:09 AM Betty: morgan my bff and cami who is not reasponding
1:31:14 AM Hillary: oh ok
1:32:15 AM Betty: back again
1:33:00 AM Betty: now 2 ichats
1:33:07 AM Hillary: who left?
1:33:12 AM Betty: cami left
1:33:19 AM Betty: :'(
1:36:07 AM Betty: hillwy
1:36:15 AM Hillary: what?
1:37:27 AM Hillary: all right, well i'm going to go but i'll talk to you later
1:37:50 AM Hillary: bye

Also, she goes by Betty, in case you didn't catch on. And the time is Spain time, she's not awake in the middle of the night. She's very responsible.

Ross

As I near the end of my year abroad, I've started to have to say goodbye to people which is really upsetting. Today was Ross' last day in Barcelona, so we walked around and went shopping all day (our store selection was based more on who had air conditioning than what we were looking for). Overall, it was a really good day, and it was pretty relaxing. Even though I'm going to see Ross pretty soon, and then will be living with him all year next year, his departure is pretty traumatizing. Here's a photo from back when Ross was still here (even though, techically he's still here since his flight doesn't leave for a few more hours):

Also, if you're reading this and are offended because you aren't Ross, and you already went home and I didn't blog about you, don't take it personally. I know Ross actually reads my blog REALLY regularly, and him leaving is a pretty pivotal moment for me.