I cannot believe how the time has flown! I'm only one day away from leaving for Spain!
Things have been crazy as I wrapped up my junior year and headed home to Michigan for the last week.
I've been sad to head out again so soon; I'm home sick already. It's been quite a few years of traveling and constantly being on the move, and it has gotten me to a point of just wanting to stay home for some stability. But hey- what's the fun in stability when you can have experiences planting rice, riding camels, taxi rides, yak cheese momos, Guelaguetza parades, rocks in your shoes, sun burns on Monte Alban, goat cheese in Chefchaouen, Hindu weddings, birthday celebrations for the Dalai Lama at a Tibetan refugee camp, babies sleeping in your arms, cactus for lunch, bus rides, train rides, bug bits the size of an orange, bucket laundry, motorcycle rides, getting scratched by a wild monkey, seeing a wild elephant, canoe rides, elephant rides, bike rickshaw rides in Old Delhi, auto rickshaw rides from the Taj Mahal to the Red Fort, mint tea, chai tea, avacado smoothies for breakfast, the chance to be asked to wear a headdress and speak to Shawafas, hugs goodbye, tears goodbye, countless new friends, never ending memories and stories to share, not to mention a GAZILLION photos to go along with it. Okay so maybe I'm not ready for stability, not if I think of all the endless gifts my travels have given me thus far.
So here I am one day out from nine weeks of travel through Europe. I will head out on Saturday from Madrid and take a bus to Toledo, where I will live, with my host mother, Angelita, for seven weeks. Today I had the gift of hearing from an old friend who traveled to Toledo last summer with Ohio University for the Spanish language program as well. The great news? She found out that I will be living with her same host family. She offered some amazingly helpful tips as well as helped calm any worries I could ever have. And now? Now I am so excited.
The best part of traveling is becoming a part of a family with someone abroad, finding a place that you fit in, in there culture, in their society, in their world.
While I'm not completely sure where my last two weeks in Europe will take me, I am making my final stop Sarajevo where I will take my flight to London, stay for a night, and then head back to Detroit. Plans are to see Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Zagreb, Croatia sometime during my journey. I cannot wait to see all that Europe has to offer me on this trip.
As I finish up my packing and spend my last day with my family I can only hope that this summer will be yet another one filled with many great travels. The summer I turned 21 I went to Europe, here goes nothing!
Things have been crazy as I wrapped up my junior year and headed home to Michigan for the last week.
I've been sad to head out again so soon; I'm home sick already. It's been quite a few years of traveling and constantly being on the move, and it has gotten me to a point of just wanting to stay home for some stability. But hey- what's the fun in stability when you can have experiences planting rice, riding camels, taxi rides, yak cheese momos, Guelaguetza parades, rocks in your shoes, sun burns on Monte Alban, goat cheese in Chefchaouen, Hindu weddings, birthday celebrations for the Dalai Lama at a Tibetan refugee camp, babies sleeping in your arms, cactus for lunch, bus rides, train rides, bug bits the size of an orange, bucket laundry, motorcycle rides, getting scratched by a wild monkey, seeing a wild elephant, canoe rides, elephant rides, bike rickshaw rides in Old Delhi, auto rickshaw rides from the Taj Mahal to the Red Fort, mint tea, chai tea, avacado smoothies for breakfast, the chance to be asked to wear a headdress and speak to Shawafas, hugs goodbye, tears goodbye, countless new friends, never ending memories and stories to share, not to mention a GAZILLION photos to go along with it. Okay so maybe I'm not ready for stability, not if I think of all the endless gifts my travels have given me thus far.
So here I am one day out from nine weeks of travel through Europe. I will head out on Saturday from Madrid and take a bus to Toledo, where I will live, with my host mother, Angelita, for seven weeks. Today I had the gift of hearing from an old friend who traveled to Toledo last summer with Ohio University for the Spanish language program as well. The great news? She found out that I will be living with her same host family. She offered some amazingly helpful tips as well as helped calm any worries I could ever have. And now? Now I am so excited.
The best part of traveling is becoming a part of a family with someone abroad, finding a place that you fit in, in there culture, in their society, in their world.
While I'm not completely sure where my last two weeks in Europe will take me, I am making my final stop Sarajevo where I will take my flight to London, stay for a night, and then head back to Detroit. Plans are to see Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Zagreb, Croatia sometime during my journey. I cannot wait to see all that Europe has to offer me on this trip.
As I finish up my packing and spend my last day with my family I can only hope that this summer will be yet another one filled with many great travels. The summer I turned 21 I went to Europe, here goes nothing!
Go get 'em!
ReplyDeleteWe simply want you to remain safe and happy, no matter where your travels lead you. God Bless....gma & papa gries
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