Adiós, Barca

This will be brief because I'm leaving for the airport in just over a half hour and I still have to throw the last-minute things (including my computer, which, did you know it's called an ordenador instead of a computadora? I've always heard computadora and the only reason I initially understood what an ordenador was was learning French last summer) into my suitcase.


Things I have learned to do in Spain:

1. Live in a city.  The longest I'd ever spent in a city before was nine days in New York visiting Morgan and Nicole for fall break.
2. Appreciate red wine.  I have probably told you about this.
3. Appreciate visual art.  I have definitely told you about this.
4. Deal with scented laundry detergent for an extended period of time.  No, really, it was a big deal for me!
5. Not get pickpocketed.  It's an industry in Barcelona and I've avoided it entirely.
6. Understand people when they ramble at me in Spanish!  Most of it, anyway.  Of course, now I'm going to have a conversation with someone who isn't from Northern Spain and I'm not going to have any idea what's going on, but baby steps.
7. Speak like a Spaniard.  Pronouncing gracias as grathias feels a million times more natural to me than grasias, and having something approaching a regional accent makes me feel more legit about learning Spanish in the first place.

I'm having a hard time ending this entry in a way that's appropriately not ridiculous so I'm going to give up and go now.  Spain, I love you a lot and you've been great.  Here's to airports.