Things I'll Miss:
1. Fresh fruit markets
2. Being able to walk and/or take the metro everywhere I want to go
3. Being surrounded by history EVERYWHERE
4. Hearing Spanish, and other Spanish dialects when I'm in different regions of Spain
5. Pilar, Pilar's cooking, Pilar's conversations
6. The "Grand Theft Auto" parking style of cars
7. Rebajas (Sales)
8. Cute, short little old people decked out in their best furs and jewelry, walking around the plaza
9. Traveling and weekend trips
10. Having someone cook and make my meals for me and then clean up after me
11. Being in freaking EUROPE!!!!!!
12. Paying less than $100 to go to a different country
13. Churros and chocolate, chocolate napolitanas, chocolate truffles, Bueno bars, and just chocolate
14. The San Miguel Mercado in Madrid
15. Doner kebabs
16. Being able to see all of these great destinations and sights that are on all the "must see before you die" lists
17. The pretty Spanish policemen
18. The Prado, and being surrounded by beautiful art in every city
19. Our small group of 5
20. Not feeling guilty about taking naps and fobbing it off as a cultural experience
21. Staying in swanky hotels
22. Thinking of something fun/cool to do and having it actually exist in Madrid
23. The buttery, fruity smell of bakeries
24. Hearing so much about "Los Reyes Catolicos" (Ferdinand and Isabel)
25. Getting into museums for free because I'm a university student
26. Being called "guapa" (which means pretty) everywhere I go
27. Westies everywhere!
28. BULLFIGHTS!!!!!!!!!
29. Seeing all of the cute girls that are in my program every day :(
30. Being able to speak/communicate in Spanish reasonably well
Things I Won't Miss (in no particular order):
1. Cigarette smoke being blown in my face at every corner and crossing
2. The slow-walkers
3. Bobbing and weaving at the attempt to avoid the Spaniards who refuse to move. Ever.
4. People cutting in line/the lack of general lining up
5. Not being able to understand everything that's being said to or around or about me
6. The smell of Alcalingua, especially the smell of the bathrooms--gag me now please
7. My small shower--believe me, if I drop something, I'm not seeing it again until I exit
8. The perpetual car horn honking--my favorite is when they honk at a car that's parked, without a driver. Priceless.
9. The small and skinny sidewalks
10. Trash and dog poop everywhere
11. Getting stared at, unabashedly
12. Not having a dryer
13. Perpetually blue legs--I'm not sure if it's because Pilar doesn't have a dryer or the fact that she has powerful laundry detergent, but my pants have been bleeding their dye (they didn't do this in the states), which ends up on my legs until I scrub it off, which is only about once a week. I'm going to be so grateful when I don't have to do it anymore!
14. Maintaining a perpetual abnormally high level of caution when I'm on the metro and in big cities for fear of pick-pockets
15. The smell of Europe. I don't understand why it smells this bad, especially in winter.
16. Big group trips--28 students is a LOT of people
17. Church in fast, heavily accented Spanish--I'm SO excited to hear church in English again! This is definitely something I took for granted.
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