Readjusting...

So the last couple of weeks have been really crazy...when I got back home I got to spend a little time with my family, and then I was off to LA, where I had one day to get everything out of my storage unit and get my apartment ready because as an ASB we went the next day up to San Francisco with other student leaders. 

It was quite a week up there! They wouldnt tell us when we were getting up or what we would be doing, so every morning I was awoken by loud screaming and the lights being turned on somewhere between 6 and 8 am. By the 2nd day I broke down because it was so hard... I went from being alone for 3.5 months to sharing a basement room with 100 girls! I was pretty much over it. The only thing that got me through the week was the service projects that we were assigned to. The first day we went to a AIDS hospice where we helped paint the entire inside and gardened outside. It was really great, because this specific house only accepts people who are HIV positive and are also homeless. There is no time limit for their stay, and they are able to get all of the resources and medical stuff that they need. I talked to a guy that did drugs for 40 years, and in the last 3 years has been completely clean. He told me that he did it all by himself because his family gave up on him and wont talk to him anymore. He also told me that his brother is rich enough to Air Condition hell, which I thought was incredibly hilarious. 

Basically, I fell in love with San Francisco. I need to stop going places, because I think that I love seeing and being a part of new cultures and places...and the more places I go the harder it is to not go back! 

Although I think that I am readjusting back well, it still is difficult. I find myself missing parts of Spanish culture, and speaking spanish in general. I am blessed with about 4 people on my ASB staff that enjoy speaking spanish, so we will just sit and chat in spanish...which has been amazing for me. 

I definitely feel like I left a part of my heart over in Madrid... I miss my friends and my life. I feel so incredibly blessed to have been able to have this experience and know that i learned so much. I am super excited about my ASB position, for those of you who dont know...it is called the multi-cultural senator and bascially I am the link between ASB/the student body and the Multi Ethnic Programs Office, which is where my scholarship group is out of. My big project for the year will be trying to get a Diversity class general studies requirement for all students. Basically it means that there would be another requirement for students, that they would all have to take a Chicano Studies Class, or a basic diversity class, or something like that. I am really excited to begin meeting with faculty and staff about it for Fall '09! 

I will keep writing on here to let you all know what Im doing during my last year... it has been so crazy to introduce myself as a senior! 

Kelly

Last weekend in Madrid

My last weekend here was fabulous. On Friday my friend Medha and I went out for some tapas, and then stumbled across this irish bar and decided to go in. We were one of 3 groups that were in there, cause it was kinda off the beaten path. However, we made friends with everyone inside, and the 3 groups turned into one! It was really fun because the other group had an Italian guy, 2 Irish guys, a guy from Poland, and 2 guys from Bulgaria. One of the other girls was Canadian, and then there was me and Medha, the Americans! 

We ended up hanging out with them the following night, because Gio, the Italian, works at one of the biggest discos in Madrid, and could get us in for free! This place was incredible! It has 7 different stories, and the top one doesnt have a roof! So you can walk around and sit in these elegant leather chairs underneath the beautiful night sky. It was phenomonal. The other floors had different kinds of music, one with kareoke! We did not spend any time on that floor, thank goodness! The very bottom floor was the biggest, and every once in awhile they would blow a huge amount of cold fog stuff from the ceiling. I dont know if you can imagine it, but it was awesome! Sunday I ran around and did errands after going to the pool for awhile. While I am going to miss this city so much, Im ready to go home and start the next stage...

I want to thank all of you who went along with me on this journey...it was amazing and I feel so lucky and privileged to be able to have been able to have this experience. You all are in my thoughts, thank you so much for all the love and support you have shown me. Let me know if any of you want to read my 3 twenty-page papers! (ha, once they are finished!)

Paz y Amor, 

Kelly

So reality is really starting to hit me. I feel like all of my blogs are getting to be about the same thing, so ill tell you guys a story instead. 

My host dad has been a little difficult to live with, simply because he thinks that everything he does is right and everything anyone else does is weird. You would think, since he has traveled the world and is married to an American, that he would have a broader perspective, but apparently not. He is always telling me that I am weird, or I am doing something not normal.  So the other day he brought out this squash-looking melon thing for after lunch. He asked me if I would rather have an orange or melon, and of course, I said orange cause I dont like melons. And this melon did not look like any melon I had ever seen.  He looked at me like i was the craziest person in the world and was like, "you dont like melon? But melon is normal!" And I kinda lost it. He is the only person in Spain who has gone out of their way to make me feel different, which is infuriating because everyone else says I am "casi Espanola" which means almost Spanish. So I just looked at him and said, "What is normal? Normal doesnt mean anything. There are people who dont eat meat, or pasta, or anything else you can mention. There is no such thing as normal. There is only normal for you." And he was kinda taken aback, cause usually I just either ignore his comments or treat them like a joke, but I just couldnt take it anymore. And you know what he said in response? "Well, melon is normal." I wanted to throw the melon at him! By that time i just let it go, because there was no use in continuing it, but seriously. I couldnt believe it. 

Other than that, I am slowly melting away in the heat, its been over 100 these past few days...and what is worse, is that when the sun goes down the temperature does not drop. So basically im in a state of constantly sweating! 

This has definitely been a summer of learning and growing...I feel like i might have to reintroduce myself to you all! In many ways I am a completely different person, but also I am still Kelly. It will take some time for me to figure out how my new thoughts and ways of thinking fit into my life back at home. Right now i would say that i just feel unsettled. I cant feel comfortable here because I leave so soon, but I am not comfortable with the idea of leaving.  I am getting excited to see my friends and family, and go back to some old routines. But its hard to think about leaving all of this behind. Everything here will just go on as normal... except I wont be here. 

I am just going to try and enjoy every minute I have left here, and think about all of the wonderful people that are waiting for me back home. 

Love to you all, 

Kelly