Full circle: this is WEIRD

A year ago I was sitting in Spanish classes back at DU with my friend Mark, imagining where we would be in a year. We had both chosen to study abroad in Salamanca for the year and couldn't imagine actually living there.

Well *boom* here I am. I am going to meet him in an hour for coffee with our Spanish friends, Alex and Javi.  Then afterwards, I'll come home for dinner, then meet up with friends to watch the Superbowl game at an Irish pub (let's go Patriots!).  It's year later, and I am LOVING it, living it up. Wake up call, though: it's not going to last forever.

This week, I have received two emails from college sophomores asking my opinion on Salamanca as they make their final study abroad decision (I definitely sent out a few of those emails myself my sophomore year).  My sister is trying to decide where to go and if she wants to peruse a second language. Decisions, decisions. Just remember, whatever you end up deciding, you will not regret it.

If you are reading this and considering studying abroad in Spain, feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Salamanca! 

It is just so WERID to me that time has gone by so quickly.

It reminds me of the poem by Robert Frost, "Nothing Gold Can Stay:"

Nature's first green is gold, 

Her hardest hue to hold. 

Her early leafs a flower; 

But only so an hour. 

Then leaf subsides to leaf. 

So Eden sank to grief, 

So dawn goes down to day. 

Nothing gold can stay.

Nothing gold can stay: I have 15 weeks left here. Alright Kelsey, calm down; that's plenty of time, I have to keep reminding myself. Next week I am off to Italy, to visit a Watervale friend, Sarah, who is studying in Florence.  Watervale is the name of the resort we worked at this past summer in northern Michigan.  A place where, 6 months ago, we were waking up every morning at 7:30 a.m. to serve breakfast by 8, and didn't have any days off the whole summer.  EVERY MORNING we were in our white uniforms ready to go.  With each pay check we put away at the local bank, it was hard to imagine what we would possibly be spending our summer savings on a few short months later.

Well, here ya have it! Next trip: Pisa, Florence, and Venice, ITALY.

See you soon, Sarah!