I fell in love.

I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach- this uncomfortable, heavy feeling of something to come that I am afraid of. I flip to the next page in my agenda and there it is... written in bold: LEAVE SPAIN. In the beginning of my study abroad experience I was afraid of what was to come in the next 3 months. Now I am amazed that fear only exists in the idea of leaving.

No quiero salir.

I suppose I have to leave to get on with the rest of life, but I will say that time passed way too quickly while I was here in Spain. So quickly, in fact, that I can't help but sit back and want to look back on everything that I have experienced, everything that has changed me.

I fell in love with Alcalá, I fell in love with my amazing group of 23 girls, I fell in love with my professors, I fell in love with my school and the bright white walls in the small classrooms, I fell in love with precious little apartment in the ghetto,

I fell in love with my host mom who believed that cake and treats in the morning would never make you fat, no matter how many you ate, I fell in love with (some) of the Spanish food (más o menos), I fell in love with the cute little old men that walk the streets with their canes and hats,

I fell in love with Madrid, I fell in love with the crazies who perform daily on the streets in Madrid, I fell in love with the cute little Spanish children, I fell in love with the way the Spanish women dress, I fell in love with chocolate con churros, I fell in love with cookies for breakfast,

I fell in love with the word "guapa" and the phrase "no pasa nada," I fell in love with the history, I fell in love with the museums and the parks, I fell in love with the most beautiful language in the world, I fell in love with their funny accent,

I fell in love with the two-person elevator I would take everyday in my apartment, I fell in love with the stuffy trains and crowded metros, I fell in love with the unidentified meats and fish, I fell in love with smoke in my face every time I walked on a street,

I fell in love with the tiny cars crammed together bumper to bumper on narrow streets, I fell in love with old women with bright pink hair, I fell in love with the crazy looks I got because I'm an American, I fell in love with the word "rubia" that was shouted as if one was a celebrity, I fell in love with the cathedrals that never ceased to amaze me, I fell in love with traveling...

... I fell in love with Spain.