The instagram pictures that I posted during my time in Spain always included "xx/60" (e.g. 12/60, 40/60, etc) to indicate how many days I had spent in the program. However, as the first two digits slowly approached 60, I couldn't help but feel sad, knowing that I only had a few days left in Spain. Of course, I enjoyed every city I've been to throughout this program, like Madrid, Valencia, Granada, Altea, etc. Each city is special in its own way and I knew since the beginning that I'm definitely gonna miss all these places.
However, what I didn't expect was how the simple things that I experienced daily in Guardamar would impact me. What do I mean by "little things" in the blog post? Well, they are simple stuffs like the pension, alioli, that yellow cafe, etc. Hence, this post will be about the top 10 little but not so little things that I miss now as I am writing this post, about 7,700 miles away from Spain.
1. Vicente!
I can't believe Vicente is the first word that came to my mind now haha! Vicente is the friendly man who runs Restaurant Jaen where we always had our lunch during weekdays. We would see him everyday working in the restaurant, serving food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A personal story... On the first week of class, my dad came to Guardamar for a few hours to visit me and I remember Vicente offering my dad to stay in the Pension for free!
Selfie with Vicente xD
2. Isa and her staring game
On the last two or three weeks of the program, Isa engaged us in this staring game (the one who got distracted first, lost) almost everyday. I could see her improving day by day, but the ultimate winner was still Jenny. Isa would also occasionally borrow my iPhone to play with the snapchat filters. Ah, I'm gonna miss Isa!!!
3. Movie Night
This studio, we talked a lot about rituals. One of my favorite one, besides eating, is of course, our movie night. Watching Spanish movies under the stars, when will I be able to do that again? Nights in Guardamar are always beautiful. Perhaps because it's summer and the sky is clear most of the time. So I could see bright stars almost every night. Oh, also, I witnessed my first shooting star during one of the movie nights!
4. Food
Warm toasted bread with alioli, salad with salt and olive oil, flan, helado...... hmmmm.....
I also happen to be the type of person who cannot not have breakfast. So, I would often go to Habana Cafe to get their 1 Euro neapolitan chocolate bread, or downstairs for the pension's 30 cents magdalenas.
5. The Terrace and Our Workspace
I felt kind of sad seeing the cleaned-up terrace for the reception after final review. The terrace holds a special place in my heart. Perhaps because of the "rituals" assignment, so each team had its own role in transforming the terrace. Those colorful inflatable pools, the portable cardboard tables, roundtable discussion, shaded pin-up spot, mattresses for movie nights... I shall always remember them!
The portable table and shelves that Mateo and I worked on (2 out of the 5 things we came up with for our eating ritual!)
6. Pension's Wifi
... which did not always work. Well, I didn't really miss the pension's wifi but I found it funny because sometimes it worked on my laptop, but not on my phone and vice versa. Sometimes it worked in my bedroom... but most of the time not. However, the signal is always the strongest in Jeremiah and Sherman's room, so we would often go there for wifi!
7. Jacobo
Marie's dog came to the pension after our independent travel week. I would say that he's the most obedient dog I've seen thus far. See, my dog will obey me only when I give him treat, but with Jacobo, it's completely different. I guess we kind of bonded when I had to look after him for a couple of hours one night.
Jacobo that evening!
8. Siestas
... on the couch in my living room.
9. Writing letters to Mr. Palomar
Everyday during the program, we wrote letters to Mr. Palomar on our journals, pouring down our observations and thoughts. Well, I found myself observing things more deeply these days and constantly having questions in my mind. Now, writing letters to him is no longer a commitment, like, I don't have the obligation to write them anymore. But, it feels kind of weird. Perhaps, I should start writing them again to keep track of my thoughts? I guess that's a pretty good idea.
10. Pension
The restaurant, my apartment, the terrace.
To end this post, I miss all my homies, Isa, Alex, Marie, Bernie, Paco (the fish), Jacobo and I shall always cherish the 2 months we spent together in Spain. And Spain, will always have a special place in my heart.
- Adriana
