Homesickness

What’s with all the homesickness?! I caught the homesick-bug coming down off of my high-on-life-emotions from spending a fantastic week with my grandparents, Bobba and Papa, on vacation. Thankfully, with a little TLC on skype, via phone call, and my host fam, I felt much better once I was back home in Madrid.

It’s nice see things from the other side—finally I know what it’s like to be in the group of those who wish to extend their visa, rather than those who never wish to re-live the difficult memories. Such a blessing, compared to my experience in Argentina. I am so thankful to have a host family who have accepted me wholeheartedly, and treat me as their own. And that my host brother, Abel (age 10) is coming home with me this summer, makes me feel even more nurtured. And that my grandparents spent the night at my house for several days in a row, and got to know my host parents and host siblings, makes me thoroughly excited and hopeful that Abel will feel at home in my house too, as well as Paula, who will be visiting when she comes to pick up Abel at the end of July.

It’s nice to feel at home in Madrid, instead of a guest. My belongings are in drawers. My laundry is no exception. I can laugh or cry with my family, I can eat what I want, and I am not judged for my appearance.

But, it makes me feel like a hypocrite, because I can’t sympathize with the homesick-bug that is going around now, although I can totally empathize with what my friends are going through. I pray that their hearts would be contented. I know what it’s like to be down in the dumps, missing the comforts of home, feeling like no one understands, and like there’s no way out. Ajo y Agua. Here’s the thing: it’s happening for a reason, and you will be a better person for going through it. That’s what I learned in Argentina.

But all this negative energy is depressing! Here’s what’s going on with some people I know:

L—had to change host families recently, due to extenuating circumstances. Says that the change was necessary, but that the return-date can’t come fast enough.

M—Been counting down the days since (s)he arrived, due to a bad host family that (s)he couldn’t change. Hm, sounds oddly like Argentina…

R—Lost a close friend recently, and is now feeling miserable. (S)He wants to go home, to forget about it. I hate that (s)he is so upset.

M—is leaving early for family obligations. I can understand that, but I’m sorry that (s)he doesn’t get to finish the semester.

K—also had family come to visit recently, and that, ever since then, (s)he can’t wait to be back with them in the US. Says that the host family situation is becoming unbearable.

B—posted a status that said “Can’t wait to go home.” Makes me sad, because I thought everything was going smoothly.

Besides all of that Spain-business, it does make me terribly sad to think that countless friends of mine are graduating from Elon in about two weeks, and that I won’t even be there to hug them, in person. I don’t even know if I’ll ever see them again.

But, really: What is “home,” anyway? Home is where the heart is. My heart is at home. Love, ~Taylor

Mallorca

Due to time constraints and delays, this blog post about Mallorca, Spain will be written as a photo journal.

We took a mini-vacation to Mallorca on Friday, April 13-Sunday, April 15, 2012. I traveled with my dear friends, Jenna (NY), Crystal (NY), Cora (SC), Rory (NC), Allan (NY), Geminis (Mexico), Karen (Mexico), and Carlos (Mexico). We had a great time!

Rory, Crystal, and Jenna: “We’re going to Mallorca!”

Friday, April 13, 2012

Allan and Cora: “We’re on a bus, in Mallorca!”

Plaza Mayor: Palma, Mallorca

Catedral de Mallorca
Rory: “You can delete that photo, if you want. Haha”

The view of the coastline, from inside the Cathedral Museum

“Here, take my picture, with some trees in it.”

Take 2. More trees.

Geminis, Carlos, Karen

Me and Jenna: “Take a picture of us jumping off this curb!” LOL

Palau de s'Almudaina (Catalán): Palacio de la Almudaina (Español): Almudaina Royal Palace (English)

In the garden of the Palace

Jenna and Rory, in the garden of the Palace

Seu de Mallorca (Catalán): Catedral La Seu de Mallorca (Español): La Seu Cathedral (English)

Cora: “Quick, while Rory is sleeping—take my picture!”

So pretty!

Playing by the water

We went out for dinner and some drinks on Friday night… but this house is upside-down, no matter if you look at it while sober or drunk, haha.

Rory, holding on tight to the neck of a bird statue so that he wouldn’t slide down (again…)

On Saturday, April 14, we decided to ride the Tren de Sóller, taking a beautiful scenic train ride from Palma to the coast in Sóller.

Geminis and me

Geminis, Carlos, Karen

Catedral de Sóller

The Ice Cream Factory was one of the primary attractions in the beach town, Sóller. They had a great deal: 4 scoops for 5€!

Looks just like downtown Annapolis!

Allan and Rory: Lookin’ good! “No homo”—we know ;)

Such a good looking group of friends ;)

Take 2—on the beach
Left to right: Carlos, Geminis, Karen, Rory, Cora, Allan, Crystal, Jenna, Me. 

The water was so clear and beautiful!

You know what I realized? No matter how many times I take a picture of the beach, it still looks like the beach. It’s incredibly stunning scenery, but it still looks like the beach.

Frisbee-fix for Crystal and me, on the beach. Check out that flick!

On Sunday, April 15, it rained. We were lucky to have great weather all weekend… except Sunday. We decided that we wanted to check out the Caves of Génova, Mallorca, but then we kind of got lost and had a little adventure:

It was raining.

We missed the bus.

We called for directions.

The next bus driver didn’t know how to get there.

We went to a café, to wait, and eat.

We caught the next bus, like an hour later.

The bus driver told us where to get off, but then he neglected to tell us when we got there.

We walked on the side of the highway for like half an hour, back-tracking the bus route, through the middle of nowhere.

We bought matching plaid umbrellas for 3€ each, from a street vendor.

We finally found a street sign, which lead us to a restaurant, where we asked for directions.

We stumbled upon this little hold-in-the-wall place, (literally). Welcome to the caves!

This photo effectively captured the mix of emotions we were experiencing when we finally arrived.

The adventure was worth it, in my opinion. I thought the cave tour was fun. Our guide, though a bit grumpy, was a really educated old guy. Quite fascinating, honestly.

Geminis, Cora, and Crystal, in the cave.

A crack in the column, which is outrageously old.

Attempted group photo, in the cave.

Navigation-Master Rory, directing us back to the airport.

En fin, the weekend was quite fun—money well-spent and memories well-made =)

Our flight back to Madrid arrived around midnight on Sunday night. I spent the night in the airport, awaiting the arrival of my grandparents on Monday morning, April 16… and the next blog post will be all about my fabulous vacation with Bobba and Papa!

Love, ~Taylor

Rome

Thursday, April 5 was the day that Annie and I arrived in Rome. The best part of our trip was spending Easter Sunday with the Pope in Vatican City on Easter Sunday.

We stayed at a campsite that was on the outskirts of Rome. We quickly learned how to take a public bus, and then the metro, to arrive in the center of the city. Luckily, there was a supermarket right across the street, where we bought all of our food. It was definitely cheaper that way!

Unknowingly, we booked a cabin, rather than a tent, at the Campsite. Honestly, after spending two cold nights sleeping in a tent in Vienna, I wasn’t complaining! We had a stranger roommate for only one night, but after that it made sense that most young people don’t travel alone on Easter weekend.

 

On Good Friday, April 6, our first sight was Vatican City, to visit St. Peter’s Plaza, and St. Peter’s Basilica. Our silly oversight was that we decided to go to the Vatican Museum, which is home to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, another day, but of course what we didn’t realize was that it was closed on the days right before and right after Easter. So, of course, we went to Rome and didn’t get to see the Sistine Chapel. Great. Guess that just means we’ll have to go back!

There were tons of people hanging out in St. Peter’s Square on Good Friday. It was a beautiful day.

  

While we were there, they acted out the Stations of the Cross in the plaza. I was happy to have the chance to see it, but it was hard to watch.

The line to get into the Basilica was out the door and around the plaza. Crazy! Luckily though, it was moving pretty quickly. And besides, the wait was definitely worth it ;)

The next tourist attraction on the map was the Roman Coliseum.

And some other Roman ruins. So ancient!

I’ve always wanted to try fresh coconut…

Lead by the guiding directions of our trusty map, we arrived at the Monument of the Fallen Soldier, which was in front of the Cultural Heritage Center of Italy. We were able to go inside and climb up, to go outside again and look at the skyline of Rome.

 

We planned our route much more effectively on Saturday, April 7. We were off to a slow start… enjoying each other’s company, playing, and planking in our cabin before we left. Haha!

The day was kind of overcast. We first went to a monument called Trenità dei Monte.

After that, we walked across town to the Fontana di Trevi. Impresionante!

Right down the street from Trevi was the Pantheon.

Plaza Navona was where there was the most activity, the most street vendors, and the most ice cream. It was delightful!

Next, we walked across town to my favorite stop, the Castle of Saint Angelo. I thought it was really pretty.

It was there that we bought several kilos of wonderfully sweet dried fruit, to save as a special Easter treat for Sunday. I loved it!

We spent Saturday afternoon just walking around a lot, to see some bridges, an island, some monuments, etc. Nbd.

Walking back through Vatican City on Saturday evening, we actually bumped into a friend from Elon, Lizzy, who is spending this semester studying in Florence. She was visiting Rome with her family for the weekend—what a coincidence!

On Easter Sunday, we were greeted with some candy chocolate eggs, some specialty dried fruit, and a few breakfast items from the Easter Bunny =P

Of course, we had an Easter egg hunt!

We had heard that mass in Vatican City started at 10:00am on Easter Sunday, April 8.

When we arrived around 7:30a, the line was already several kilometers long. Standing in line, was a good friend of mine from church, Meredith, who is studying abroad in Rome.

Meredith asked us if we had tickets. We didn’t. We stood in line somewhere else, slightly confused by the crowd control. There wasn’t any. A nice woman named Susan asked us if we were in line. We were. And she asked us if we had tickets. We still didn’t. She suggested that we hang out with her, because she had two extra tickets. WHAT?! It was a real Easter blessing--How exciting, and thoughtful! Such a God-moment ;)

Susan, from Texas, ended up with two extra tickets to mass because her lodging in Rome was at a monastery with some Franciscan Sisters who had given her tickets for better seats. Her instructions from them were to pay it forward, because “surely” she would find somebody who needed two tickets. Annie and I were the lucky winners of her random act of kindness. I felt so touched, and blessed! It was absolutely wonderful.

Susan had heard that we should walk to the other side of the Basilica, where there would be a second security check-point, with a line not as long. She was certainly right, and we were among the first fourth of people who were let in. We had great seats!

It was a beautiful service. The Holy Spirit was tangible.

We saw the Pope!

The rest of our day on Sunday went really smoothly. After the service, we went back to our cabin, and got ready to check out. Annie and I had a few minutes to relax and call our families… and then I took a 4:00pm shuttle bus to the airport. It was the last shuttle available, before the 7:00am bus the following morning. Annie took the 7:00am bus to catch her 10:00am flight on Monday, April 9, but I had to spend the night at the airport because check-in for my 6:00am flight started at 4:00am. I wasn’t the only student flying on the cheap airline from Rome to Madrid that day, either! Pretty much everyone who was waiting for my flight was sleeping on the floor at the airport. Then I actually ran into a girl I met at UEM named Jennifer, who is originally from Honduras. She was traveling in Rome with her family, so I flew home and talked to them.

Here ends the adventurous tales of Annie’s and Taylor’s Spring Break. It was definitely a fun-filled week of memory-making and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I can’t wait to do it again sometime ;)

Love, ~Taylor