Hola, bienvenidos a mi último blog en Madrid! I cannot believe it’s time to leave already. I leave in a couple of days and it’s extremely bittersweet. I’ve been sorta struggling to find a topic for this blog but then I realized now that my time is kinda over it’d be a good time to reflect a little on the overall culture and energy of Madrid and Spain. Of course, four months in a country is not nearly enough to fully capture the essence and spirit of a country or city, but it’s more than many tourists can say. 

The time has come, not only finals week but also my last week in London completely. Finals have been had considering at times it is easy to forget the “study” in studying abroad. It is difficult knowing that by the end of the week, the semester abroad will be over. I know it is sad, but finals week is also a good part of the memories too. 

    The first three months of my study abroad experience felt too good to be true. But things took a different turn when Netherlands decided to go into partial lockdown last month because COVID cases were spiking like never before. Winter came, daylight savings happened, and we barely got a full 7 hours of daytime. All of these things combined, it set a different mood for everyone in the program.

    The first three months of my study abroad experience felt too good to be true. But things took a different turn when Netherlands decided to go into partial lockdown last month because COVID cases were spiking like never before. Winter came, daylight savings happened, and we barely got a full 7 hours of daytime. All of these things combined, it set a different mood for everyone in the program.

If you’ve been on TikTok recently, you probably know the Backyardigan’s song “Into the Thick of It.” I can confidently say that this song lived rent free in my brain during my time in the Amazon. The lyrics are surprisingly relevant when you’re living at a research station in the jungle, 13 hours (by bus and boat) away from Quito.

I’ve been home for a few days and it’s taken me a minute to adjust to a few things. My sleep schedule has been off and haven’t been able to sleep past 8 a.m. and my sinuses have been acting up. You would think that with Paris’s crazy weather, I would have been able to adjust to Virginia’s own psychotic mess. However, that is not the case. I have been able to get back into the swing of things at home and spend time with my family.

  I have always been a massive overthinker, so you can probably imagine that my head was about to explode when I was getting ready to go abroad. The problem is, logically I know that I’m in my own head a lot and I know what I should do to get out of it, but when you’re in a totally new place with totally new people that can be rather difficult. Getting out of my own way was one of the biggest challenges I faced this semester, and even though I’ve been me my whole life, I honestly didn’t see it coming.

God hath no fury like the customs line at an American airport.
I’d go so far as to argue that if Pharaoh hadn’t conceded to Moses after the tenth, then the customs line at Newark Liberty International Airport would have been sent down as the eleventh plague of Exodus.

Parks, as plain as they might sound, have been lifesaving. A spot for lunch, a late night stroll, or a gathering, they are key to getting me outside in the evening.