The End

Since I leave Granada tomorrow, I guess it's about time to put up some pictures of our love nest! Javi and I have a 1 bedroom apartment very close to the main downtown area, his work, and 2 good running paths. The building doesn't look like much from the outside, since there's lots of graffiti (my favorite says “less mortgage and more disco.” It's a rhyme in Spanish) and it's pretty small. We live next to a gym and a small club for live music. I think the club is open more than the gym. There are only 3 other apartments in the building and everyone pretty much keeps to themselves. Well, with the exception of the man below us who coughs like he is dying every morning, and then smokes various substances all afternoon. We even have a charming violinist who plays for money on the street below. He is very diligent and practices every day. Too bad he only knows TWO SONGS!!!
After trips to the appliance store, giant grocery store, hardware store, and Ikea an hour and a half away (no, Target does not exist here), we finally made an economically cute home. It is a “compact” apartment, so I have had to get used to a few little differences to make it livable. The only thing I would change would be to make the shower big enough for at least 1 person!

I love living here, especially with Javi. He is a very good roommate. I think it helps that he is cleaner than me. I'm going to miss the fresh fruit and veggies, fish, and bread from all the individual markets. I'm also going to miss the lifestyle of walking every where and living so easily without a car. I'll miss the 2 hour lunches, watching soccer, the ability to get to another country in 1 hour, playing polo, the good coffee, speaking in Spanish, a bar on every corner, swimming in a 50 meter pool, and the ice cream.

I will not miss how each bar normally has only 1 kind of beer. Nor will I miss not having a clothes dryer and oven. These are amazing inventions not to be taken for granted! I will also be happy to go to a place where people are not so rude in public. Here, people are either pushing you out of the way or wandering slowly while taking up a lot of space; they don't seem to notice there are other people near them. It will also be nice to go for a run without someone blowing smoke in my face.

I really don't want to leave, but it helps that I will be going straight to Southern California. I'll be living in Escondido starting May 1st, and begin studying to become a Physical Therapist May 6th! Javi got the big envelope comes for him from UCSD! We can just relocate the love nest! I fly out of Madrid on Wednesday morning. These have been an extremely fast and happy 2 months for me. I think not having any obligations or responsibilities had a lot to do with that, but I really do love this country and will miss it a lot!