154 days ago I hugged my mom goodbye and I blindly bored a plane to a foreign country. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I had a lot of expectations and a lot of worries. And now that I have spent 5 months here I realize the things I worried about were unimportant and the things I expected were unrealistic. But I have however been having a amazing time, and I am so thankful for all of you who are supporting me and letting me experience this.
I look back at my first blog posts or journal entries and it's crazy how quickly the time has gone. Today is my half way mark here in Spain. 5 months down 5 to go. I love reading something I wrote in October and and realize how differently I see things now. Honestly I feel like I've changed and grown up so much. Living with different people gives you the ability to look at the good and bad in both them and the people you’re familiar with. And if we’re smart we’ll pick the good parts from everyone and adapt them to ourselves.
Another thing I have learned is the most important thing is to accept other people. You might not agree with them or how they live their life, but you know what? They might not agree with how you live your live. However, you can’t judge someone else’s life until you’ve experienced it. That’s why you have to go into every situation with an open mind, willing to change, even if the only thing you learn is that you prefer the way you live your life. You’ll never know until you give it a try though.
So I won't lie, since probably September I've planned to name this blog post after the Bon Jovi song "Living on a Prayer". And today while in the car driving to my host granpa's town, the song came on the radio and i just said...."what a coincidence".
hope you post something when you get back from trip. the time is going so quickly. can't believe i will see you in april. i got the package that i sent you last september that got stuck in customs. finally found its way back to cedar grove. contents: lots of videos, books (some good fiction and some real good spanish books), leave in conditioner, clearasil ( in know you did not ask for this but just in case you needed it), granola bars, almonds, walnuts, 2 pair of blue golf pants, a pretty green sweater (not yours), a MSD sweat shirt. And all the reeses candies were taken out of the box (can you believe the custom officials stole the reeses pieces!) I remember it like it was a few days ago - bringing that box to the post office. you were so unhappy and i kept telling you to give it one month. i also kept telling you that you would hate yourself and feel like the biggest loser if you came home. remember how miserable you were? and then after a short time - you were happy! REALLY HAPPY! and your father and i were SOOOO HAPPY that you were HAPPY. Because we really did not want you to come home - because we like being alone! Only kidding (well not really) we did not want you to come home - because we knew - no matter what - that you would have the greatest experience of your life! And brave, impressive, young woman that you are - you knew it too. And it is all true. I miss you sometimes so much. But I am so happy that you are so curious, adventurous, and responsible enough to be free. I hope you have many more wonderful travels and experiences living abroad. I love you.
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