Missed

Here are the things I missed while in Spain:

Neo. I miss him when I'm in Rexburg all the time, Spain was no different.


Cha, Cha, Cha, Charmin. Spain is not great at making TP, I sure did miss the softness of Charmin every time I visited el bano.


Ice cold milk, that isn't off the shelf and has a freshness date less than 3 months.



Jamba Juice. I missed my fill of an original Orange A Peel. Right when I got off the plane, I sped walked to the Jamba in the Airport, first meal back home.


My comfy, large bed. I love my huge comforter and missed it on those cold nights in Spain.


And a little piece of me even missed Fartie (aka Jake).

Glad to have you all back in my life!

Top

So I'm kind of stealing this idea from, my roommate of 3 months, Kailie. Just letting you know.

Nevertheless, here are my top 7 things I loved about these past 3 months.

Number 1: Food
The food in Spain is unique compared to what you find in the States. I heard that the best pastry chefs are in Spain and my waistline is a testament to that statement thanks to these:

Napolitanas. They are doughy on the outside, and on the inside you have delicious chocolate. That's another thing, the chocolate in Spain is SO much better than the chocolate in the US. There's something to it, you just have to try it to see. That brings me to my next loves:

Bueno Bars and Happy Hippos. Another reason I've been working out so hard now that I'm home. It's the chocolate, that's it.
Kailie and I were also blessed, the third time around, to have a wonderful cook for a host mom. Which brings me to my second love of Spain.

Number 2: Family


Boni and Mariola were so great to us. They showed us so much love and cared for us all the time, we felt like one of their kids.
I will/do miss they so much.

Number 3: Friendships
I made lasting friendships with all 5 of these wonderful people: Kailie, Michael-Ann, Luisa, Laura, and David.

Click on them to see them better. (Now these are the only pictures of all 6 of us, I have plenty of us 5 girls cause David would always be taking the pictures :):))
We did EVERYTHING together. I can't really remember a time when I wasn't with one of these people. We are all completely different, but we made it work and grew so close over these past 3 months. Yes there were points when we all didn't get along, but that's how it is with any kind of family. And that's what we were/are, a family.

Number 4: Shopping
Anyone who knows me, knows that I love to shop. And Spain provided me with just that, the opportunity to shop.

(See those signs, "Rebajas," the sales will get you and your wallet)
H&M was my go to place. But don't worry I shopped elsewhere, causing me to stuff my suitcase to the brim.

Number 5: Spanish
My love for this foreign language grew so much. I had only had taken it in high school, so needless to say I was rusty when I came to Spain. But I learned and practiced, failed quite a few times, but nonetheless, my love for the language has grown.

Number 6: Traveling
I loved having the opportunity to travel. Through our program, we went all over Spain. I got to witness what we read in our history book. Then through the funding of my parents, I got to go to:


Portugal


and Paris. All of it was amazing and I'm so grateful for all those opportunities.

Number 7: Learning
When filling out the customs form on the way back to the US, I was about to add knowledge to the list of things I am bringing back, and adding its worth to be priceless.
While in Spain I learned so much. About myself, Spain, Spanish, friends, the Church, and Host Family. I'm grateful for all the knowledge I've gained and for the opportunity to go on a Study Abroad.

These were my top 7 things. If they seem a little like Kailie's, that is because we spent most of our time together.

Visit

Guess who came to visit my last week in Spain?


My mom and dad!


And Grandma and Uncle Roel (who's not pictured)

I had fun playing tour guide, showing them around my home for the past 3 months, and then we all went to Barcelona to finish out the week.

I am so happy I got to share this wonderful country with them!

Trabajo

For the past month I have been looking and looking for a job for this next semester. My funds have diminshed since I came to Spain, and I need to some how replenish them.

I would look and look and then look some more to see if there were new postings on the campus website. I finally memorized the page, knowing exactly which each job was, why I wasn´t qualified for some and why my schedule never fit with any of the ones I was qualified for. So one day I finally sent my resume, schedule, and reference list to pretty much every supervisor on campus. They all were polite and said they would send it off to their hiring manager, ut none of them said anything right away.

Then one day, while sitting on the top of a tour bus in Barcelona, I recieved a call to schedule an interview. I could barely hear the person on the other line, except that she was with Student Records and Registration and wanted to schedule an interview with me, I said yes, calculated the time difference to when she wanted and waited anxiously. Then I sat there thinking about which job this was and realized it wasn´t one of the ones that was posted but from when I sent my resume out...

At 10 PM that night I had my interview. It was done by a fellow student who had been working there for a while so it wasn´t as nerve wracking. But the first thing she said to me was that she wanted to explain how graduation work and what not. My first thought was this: Oh she didn´t want to interview me for a job, but she´s mistaken that I´m going to graduate and she wanted to talk to me about how it works. I was about ready to tell her that I wasn´t graduating this semester and say thank you and goodbye, but then she kept talking about what the job duties would include. I´m glad I bit my tounge and didn´t say anything. I thought it went great and it sounded like they wanted to hire me, but I had to wait until she called me back.

While sitting down for dinner in Barcelona I recieved a call from the same, nice girl. I got up away from the crowd (aka my family) and walked and listened, hoping for the best but expecting the worst. She said that her office would like to hire me and I would start on the 18th of April. I gladly accepted, trying to contain my excitement :):)

I officialy have a job at BYU-Idaho, in the Kimball building, in the Students Records and Registration Office, in the Graduation Department.

Sorry for the long post, but this is what has been on my mind and I had to share!