Fun fact of the day: Shanghai, China is on the same latitude as San Diego, CA. 

// aebtravel.tumblr.com //

This blog will be starting up again soon, thanks to my placement as a english teacher at a school in Shanghai, China, and to the generous grant I received to do so. I move to China in late August, and will be there until next semester. Once again, I plan on documenting my experiences abroad through this blog. 

Thanks, as always, for following!

// He salido de Sevilla, pero Sevilla nunca me dejará//

Last night I rode the elevator to the top of Las Setas for the last time. July in Sevilla is hell—two days this week introduced me to the hottest weather I have ever encountered:107 degree Fahrenheit at three in the afternoon. The heat means that nobody ventures outside after noon and no ones leaves their apartment again until sundown. At nine, when Beatriz and I were eating the last tapas I’ll have for a long time (I need a break), the sun was setting. When we reached the summit of las Setas an hour or so later, there was still enough light in the sky for me to look across Sevilla a final time. The Cathedral was illuminated eerily as usual, the bats flocking to la Giralda for some bug tapas of their own. Behind it, my neighborhood, Los Remedios cropped out of the horizon, identifiable by the giant blinking sign reading: CERVEZA, and a second later: CRUZCAMPO. Following the river in front of the sign, the suspension bridges on the Guadalquivir rose higher than any structure in the city, the city dwindling into dark hills. But on my right, only a five-minute walk away, Alameda was bathed in weird green light—our next stop for the night.

B asked me what I had learned, personally, during study abroad and it led us to talk about how we had changed during the past six months. I told her I felt like a different person—not a better person, but a different person. I couldn’t be any more specific than that. Returning to the US will determine in what ways I’ve changed. I expect some severe reverse culture shock. I plan on writing about it.

I want to thank everyone for reading this blog. If you’re debating whether you should study abroad, allow me to give it a whole-heated endorsement. It’s a terrifying experience. It’s often frustrating: I leaked money. I got lost. I made an ass of myself. I didn’t want to come home until I was standing on top of las Setas and realized how tired I was.

I mentioned in my first video that studying abroad was something my mom wanted me to do. That was an understatement: studying abroad was something that she expected me to do, as I was studying Spanish as well as English (a double degree also being something she recommended, sort of forcefully.) I did not want to disappoint her. My decision to study in Spain was made when she told me that I would go abroad and she and dad would come visit me, wherever I went.

I had my doubts about living with Carmen because I was worried about how I would react to having a mother-figure in my life again. Would I be resentful? Depressed? Happier?

It’s been a year since I lived with dad, and because mom died last year, I’ve had some time to reflect on what parents do—what moms do, because my dad is also a good mom. With those mom-free months, my appreciation for someone who gets home from work every day and cooks a meal, then asks me how I am—has improved tenfold. I wanted to say to Carmen, every day, “I’m fine, Carmen. I woke up like two hours ago. How was opening someone’s chest cavity, poking around, then sewing it back up?”

So, finally, a thousand thanks to Carmen, who will inspire me. Before I left, she told me her house would always be my house, I have her email, and I plan to start a happy pen-pal-ship.

Tomorrow I’ll be back in the states. I need a while to rest, to have a routine again.

But then I’m going back on the road.

// Packing my things//

Made it back from Portugal an hour ago. I’m working on packing all of my things. Tomorrow I take a 2:30 bus to Madrid and stay there over night.

On the one hand I’m very excited to be going back to the US, and on the other hand I’m uncontrollably sad.

// Fun News//

I missed my bus to Sevilla from Lagos, Portugal, so I’ll be staying here for a night more than expected. Well, techinically I was an hour early for it. It’s a story I’ll be in the mood to tell later. Right now I feel like a complete dummy.

The good news is, I’ll be back by 1:00 PM tomorrow, with plenty of time to pack and get on a bus to Madrid Saturday afternoon. I’ll spend Saturday night in Madrid and take a morning flight on Sunday to Charlotte, NC. From Charlotte I fly to O’Hare. 

More later.

// Terminado con mis examenes!//