Closing Remarks

I've been home from Spain for a month now, giving me time to reflect on the year abroad and better understand the impact it will have on my life.  The verdict is in: I am genuinely glad I studied abroad in Granada despite all the hardships I encountered at first.  I already think the year will be a highlight of my life, a truly unique experience that so few ever experience, or if they are lucky to experience it, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity.  And while studying abroad is becoming increasingly more popular, I think I speak for myself when I say that I went through many things study abroad students never experience.  All in all, the not so great times really helped me appreciate when things finally did turn up.  My last few months in Spain felt exactly how I had hoped my first few months would have felt.  Of course I now know that it was really only natural to feel the way I did at first, especially given my circumstances.  I think most people have feelings of doubt in the beginning.  I remember thinking that I had seriously gotten myself into a huge nightmare.  At the end I felt the feelings of excitement and adventure that I had anticipated when daydreaming about Spain the summer before.  My year abroad obviously taught me many life lessons, including having a little faith when things don't go exactly as planned.  Things can often be tougher than we imagine, but with the support of loved ones mixed with some faith and confidence, we usually manage to overcome our obstacles.  I think the year abroad gives me confidence to persevere in life.  I should always strive for my goals no matter what may get in my way.  I will try to always think back to Granada when I am in a tough situation. 

I consider myself very fortunate for how good things turned out in the end, mainly the amazing friendships I made.  I really think friends help make the journey worthwhile.  When I get sentimental thinking of Granada, it is most always remembering the good times spent with friends, and much less of the not so fun times like carrying heavy groceries up the hill to my dorm!  My friends made the time so much more enjoyable.  They helped me through the thick and the thin.  And the last few days were no exception.  Jose Luis and Marta helped me pack my suitcases after we all realized it might be a challenge.  Hansol helped me take winter clothes to the post office to ship home.  I divided up all of the items in my room that I couldn't take home, and my friends were more than happy to take it all.  Claudia, Jose Luis and Marta all woke up at 7 AM to say goodbye to me.  Jose Luis and Marta even helped me roll my suitcases out to the taxi.  I was really touched with all the nice things they did at the end.  Jose Luis and Marta made a video with pictures throughout the year.  Regina wrote a long letter for me to read once I was home.  Friends like these really are one in a million and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to meet them all.  They have all said that whenever I want to return to Spain I have a home in each of their cities.  Likewise, I have told them they are all welcome in the United States, and that the offer will always stand.  As the saying goes, mi casa es tu casa.

While the people in Spain were the ones  I saw on a daily basis, all of you back home also played an essential role throughout the year.  All the kind words and well wishes were greatly appreciated.  My parents talked to me daily, always helping me to look on the bright side and encouraging me to stay in Spain even when times got tough.  Their concern showed me just how much I am loved.  My grandmother, Meme, helped keep me company when I was feeling especially lonely or when I was in need of a good listener.  She was always ready to talk and sounded so excited to hear my voice on the other end.  

"When one door closes another one opens" 

The excitement and adventure of Spain may be over, but new opportunities await me in the not so distant future.  I am so pleased that I will be transferring to UNC-Chapel Hill next month. After spending a year in Granada, at a huge university, I thought I was ready for something bigger back home.  UNCG was a good starting place freshman year and it gave me the opportunity to go to Spain.  Now, I am eager to see what Chapel Hill holds in store.  

As a junior in college, it is not too early to begin thinking of what to do after school.  If you asked me in October if I would ever leave home again, I am sure I would have said "never," without thinking twice.  I would actually now consider living in another country later in life.  Maybe not forever, but I think a few years could be fun and enlightening.  I already have such a different perspective and outlook on the world from having studied in Granada.  Living in a different country is so different from traveling to a foreign country for a week.  I really witnessed another culture and learned that other parts of the world do not function the "american way."  I appreciated the different way of life and learned to accept it for what it is.  I saw what little part of the world Sanford, NC occupies.  This helps me to keep everything in perspective and remember that there is another world out there, outside of the United States.  

I can't say for certain where the future will take me, all I know is that I am open to any adventures that may come my way.  

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." 
-Eleanor Roosevelt

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
-Mark Twain

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them."

-Henry David Thoreau