In January, I did something pretty incredible: I ran the Disney Marathon in Orlando, Florida. Now, I’m not going to put you through the details of that race since this is a travel blog, but the race was a lot of fun. But one of the biggest highlights of my trip to Florida was going to Universal Studios for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
If you read my earlier posts, you’ll know that I’m going back to Spain in a few months. I love Spain, but man, the visa process can be very stressful. It can take months to compile all the documents, and a lot of money, especially if you want to get the documents faster, like me.
I’m a self-proclaimed bibliophile — I love books. It seems like every week I’m going to the library and coming home with a new stack of books to read. I prefer to go for the non-fiction books. If I’m going to spend time reading something, I want to learn from it. To help keep myself sane while back home, I’ve thrown myself into many travel books. I’ve cleaned out the library system’s Spain collections. I eventually wandered out to hit other sections, too.
Happy Friday, everyone! It may have only been a four-day work week for me, but man, did it drain me! The school I work at is going through their end-of-the-year statewide tests and it’s exhausting taking care of everything. So, in the honor of June coming and to brighten up this stressful week, I’ve decided we all need a little more barbecue in our lives. I think I may have found the best barbecue (at least in Virginia): BBQ Exchange.
Since I’ve been home, I’ve been looking for the excitement and beauty in my own state of Virginia instead of only feeling satisfied by European culture. I’ve lived here since January 2001, so sometimes it can get boring. But then other times I realize how much of this state I have not seen.
About three years ago when I was getting ready for my first extended trip abroad, I created a list of the top ten places I wanted to visit. I forgot about it until recently when I went back to take a peek: I had visited six of the places, and I think I’ll get to check another two off the list within a year.
The first time I was asked if I wanted a tortilla in Spain, I said, “Sure, of course!” I love tortillas. However, I was surprised when instead of handing me a round, white, circle of flour or corn, they gave me a plate of eggs. In Spain, tortilla means omelette. I was disappointed at first, but then I learned of the magical powers of a tortilla española, or tortilla de patata.
Two weeks ago, I yelled up to my dad that Mother’s Day was the following week and that we needed to get her some presents. He couldn’t believe it was coming up so fast. I then told my mom that we needed to get things for Mother’s Day the next week and she said to me, “Mother’s Day isn’t next Sunday, it’s the one after that!” I pulled up my calendar on my phone, went to May 7, “See it’s Mother’s Day next week!” Just for kicks, I went to May 14. It also said Mother’s Day.
You may have heard about it in passing, or seen Internet memes, or perhaps you have never heard of it at all. But it’s coming. Yes, Eurovision Song Contest 2017 is coming!
I’ve been holding on to this information for a while because it’s kind of nice having something that isn’t published to the world immediately. But yes, it’s true: I’m coming back to Spain.
Ever since I left last July, I’ve been considering the options to return. I’ll be studying a Masters degree in Bilingual and Multicultural Education at the Instituto Franklin at the Universidad de Alcalá in Madrid.