Where did June go? For the past month I have been on vacation in a number of different sites in the world. June 1st - Madrid. After two nights a hopped a plane straight to Rome, Italy. Mama mia, some adventures! In fact, my mom met me there. Our voyage continued on to Florence where we spent five days enjoying the relaxed ambiance of the city, the unmatched flavours of Tuscan wine and abundantly tomatoey cuisine, and the neighboring equally famous city of Pisa and her leaning edifice and fluffy sand beaches. We hiked on to Bologna, observing the journey get better, more interesting and more enchanting the further north we rose. Well, I have a lot to say and I don´t have it in me to do it now, but I tell you that after finishing the trip in Venice, two weeks of my life unforgettable and well-invested, that Italy is recommendable on all levels. More to come about that.

After my two week tour through Italy, I came back to Huercal-Overa for ten days to see the place, relaxedly to spend time with friends and have a proper goodbye-for-now. I leave Huercal-Overa as my home tomorrow afternoon and the feeling is most obviously sad. Has it been a year? When I walk through it in my mind, the changes I have come through are stunning. They tell me I have an open mind, these Spanish friends of mine, and they are impressed by it. I know because they tell me so much, but you see they are the ones who have opened it. I have not only met different types of people this year but I have had coffee with them, gone to the gym with them, worked with them, travelled with them, lived with them, even dated some of them, spent quality afternoons with them, and in short truly lived life with them. And by doing this , I am left hinchada, stuffed with experiences, memories, and new knowledge. Wow! I know what it is to learn from other people who are so different from myself, often, amply, and in the most enjoyable way.

With these thoughts, perhaps the best way to describe it, this feeling as I´m departing, is an ache. I ache leaving this place, though not so badly as if I knew I weren´t coming back. I AM coming back in fact! In October, I will begin my job as a conversation assistant yet again, but this time in Madrid! This change in my situation has made my farewells much less bitter and much more sweet as I am sure to come back and very soon. So on that note, I say goodnight. Onward to one more day until next fall when I´ll come back to this dear place.