¡olé!

For the first time in 24 years Spain is going to the finals of Eurocup -- we beat Russia 3-0 last night under the beating rain of Vienna and the eyes of millions of fans. Watching the game at a restaurant/bar here in Sevilla was less exciting than I had anticipated, but fun none the less. Afterwards we spent our final night in Sevilla at our favorite bar by the river, talking and reminiscing (i´m sure i just misspelled that). By the grace of God my roomate and I both dislike staying out late, so we came back home at the early hour of 2am. This morning I got up early to beat the intense mid-day heat so I could do my last bits of shopping. Now I´m just killing time...it´s too hot to walk around the city but too early to go back home. And perhaps I am avoiding packing, because I know that means I´m really leaving.



This trip has been unlike anything I´ve ever experienced -- the people, the places, and the experiences were nothing I could have anticipated and nothing I will ever experience again. To think that a month and a half ago I was walking into the Dallas airport with forced confidence to cover up my anxiousness for flying alone and then going to a new place to be surrounded entirely by people I didn´t know -- it is amazing. I look at the friends I have made and laugh at my vague recollections of first impressions. Was I really in Madrid and friendless not too long ago? And such judgements I passed even in the first minutes of laying my eyes on the group of lethargic ISA students in the Madrid airport taunt me now, reminding my of how much I don´t know. My roomate and I had a lengthy conversation last night during our 30-minute walk back home about "the game" that people (especially girls) our age play. This has been the first time that I have been surrounded by people who play the game -- I have been so blessed with my high school friends and new college friends, who are not interested in playing the game. It is a game of strategy, and I also see now that it is by no merit of my own that I do not participate in it. The strategy begins to be laid even in the first moments that we meet each other. The girls at the airport who could stand out and the guys who could play cool earned bonus points that rolled over to the whole trip. You also get points for every time people see you with an alcoholic beverage in your hand, and you get tripple points if the alcoholic beverage is accompanied by spaniards of the opposite sex. It is especially important to form alliances, connected by bonds of common dislike that is expressed under the table when the player in question is not present. And when there is not a person to discuss it is of utmost importance that you find something to complain about, and there is never a lack of such topics in a foreign country where "the unfamiliar" can be discussed as "the ridiculous". It is also of utmost importance that you practice your game face: for girls the lean-in group pose to fill the pages of facebook, and for guys the disinterested smile and leaned-back pose -- prefferably with a group of girls around you. It is a game and I´m not sure what the goal is or what the prize is for winning. Seeing the game being played on a concentrated, small scale of the 100 ISA students has renewed my appreciation for my friends, but also given me a new respect for people who I never before understood. Those who play the game are not bad people, and in fact there are amazing depths to be discovered if you are willing to ignore the game play.

Blah bla blah...this is turning into rambling.

Spain is amazing, this trip is amazing, and going home will be amazing. Fanta limón is also amazing, and I am amazingly sad that it does not exist in the United States.

ciao.