Adéu, Barcelona

{{Y daría, tantas cosas daría, sólo por que este mundo no girara tan deprisa}}

That unfortunate time has come again where I have to say goodbye to an amazing place that has found a way into my heart and marked me after months of living in it, for tomorrow I leave Barcelona and return to the States. My time here since January has been amazing, full, flew way too fast, and helped me appreciate and become a part of yet another completely different culture. Barcelona is certainly not Urubamba, and neither one is Portland! But they all share small similarities that I delighted in finding as I make my way between the three cities that are now "mine". I met some truly amazing people here, people that I will be able to visit both in the States and abroad, and I was lucky to spend several quality months as part of Guillem's family, listening to them talk in Catalan amongst themselves (and learning their language myself), traveling with them to see other parts of Europe through their eyes, and learning how to make Barcelonan paella.

And I don't think I could have been luckier with my choice of city. Barcelona is incredibly beautiful, blessed with creative, modern architecture on every corner; I never tired of gazing up at the decorative iron railings and unique buildings everywhere I went (from simple touches to a grand madman's invention that is la Sagrada Família). I've fallen in love with the way Catalan and Spanish are both used here, in passing clumps of people speaking one or the other as I walk anywhere, and am proud that I now understand and can respond in kind. I'll miss the fantacism for Barça, the commentaries on TV3 that make fun of the politics of both Spain and Catalunya, being able to walk down to the beach whenever I want, then turn around and enter a free contemporary art exhibit at CaixaForum.

I have completely fallen in love with this city, and, compared to everywhere else that I visited in the south (all beautiful, with amazing history and people), it is still my home. I even breathed an internal sigh of relief as my train pulled close and I could see the Telefònica tower on Montjuïc that let me know I was close to home. I know I will be back soon and I can't wait to see what my next Barcelona adventures will be. But for now, it's time to start looking towards the college part and readjusting to living in the US (dinner at 7.....what?! I eat at 10:30...I can't even be hungry at 7!).

No et dic "adéu", Barcelona, però "fins aviat". Gràcies per a tot, guapa, m'he divertit molt molt molt. Ets boníssima i bonica, ho saps, no?

Doncs res, ens veiem, sip!