Feliz Navidad and Fall Wrap-up
Updated: Feb 19, 2024
It feels a bit surreal writing this last travel and life-in-Spain update for the year of 2023 on my flight to Boston. There were a few weeks in October when I was sure Christmas would take forever and a day to come. But in the end, it really snuck up on me and I can’t believe I’m headed home already.
Although I don’t have a ton of updates or pictures from this past week and a half, I wanted to post a small summary of Spain so far. However, before I get overly reflective, there were a couple notable events from the past couple days.
Last Monday, December 11th, my housemate Lauren brought home a new apartment companion…a street cat that we decided to name Fermín. Although he was a temporary addition to our flat, he provided us with a lot of laughs and love.
Fermín is the most needy, affectionate animal I have ever lived with and he quickly won us over. Whenever we would be watching our show together, eating dinner, or just existing in the living room, there he would be right next to us.
I really hope that he gets adopted and is the Christmas present someone has always wished for. And thank you Fermín for introducing us to the owners of the bar downstairs through your escape-artist antics (long story…).
Skye unfortunately tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday morning, and her presence was greatly missed in our gym group. Thankfully, the rest of us managed to stay healthy and virus-free.
On Friday, I caught an early Blablacar to Granada to spend the day with one of my friends from studying abroad, Colin. We met at I Need Coffee which was one of our regular stops during the school week when we lived in the city.
We wandered back to our old school and stopped in the say hi to our coordinator. María José and I talked about the weird place that Motril is and about the upcoming semester. She mentioned having a friend in Motril who might be interested in me teaching her daughter English and put us in contact. You really never know what opportunities are going to come out of reconnecting with someone!
Colin and I ate our lunch, empanadas of course, at the river by where I used to live before grabbing a quick drink together. I had to run out to catch the bus but we discovered that we were going to be coincidentally staying in the same hostel in Madrid the coming week!
I rounded out my Friday by capturing Fermín from underneath a car, taking a masked up night walk with Skye, and watching an episode of El Internado with Sophie and Lauren. All in all, a typical Motril evening.
A group of us got some drinks at the bar that is located in the park on Saturday night as a Christmas farewell. There was live flamenco music and a little boy sang "Feliz Navidad" to us. It was really nice to relax and hear everyone’s plans for the break.
Sunday was spent cleaning, writing Christmas cards, and doing more laundry than I thought possible. I stopped my chores midafternoon to caught a bus to Granada to meet up with my older host brother.
Guille, who currently lives in London and speaks enviably great English, and I hadn’t seen each other since I left Granada in May of 2022. We fell right back into conversation and gave each other the 1.5 year rundown on all aspects of our lives. I am so glad we overlapped even for just a few hours and I cannot wait for some of the trips we are brainstorming for the coming year!
I sadly never got to see my host mom Susana this fall even though we only live an hour apart. She is currently back in university studying Psychology, so she is very busy to say the least. We do however have a reunion lunch in the works for 2024 :)
On Monday my students told me all about Spanish Christmas traditions which there are a TON of. They were shocked when I let them know that we do not eat 12 grapes on midnight at New Years nor do we celebrate the Three Kings. I think that one year I need to spend the Christmas season in Spain so I can experience all of their celebrations.
After the gym on Monday night, I walked all the way across the city to meet with the family that my study abroad coordinator put me in touch with. They were welcoming but intense and their daughter is an adorable troublemaker. We do not have a solidified schedule for the spring yet, but I will be helping both Olivia and her cousin Bruno with their English! I am excited to get to know these families better and to use my free time to make some extra money for traveling.
The class of 6C made my day on Tuesday by surprising me with handwritten Christmas cards, hugs, and turrón (a typical Spanish sweet for this time of year). I felt myself tearing up from their kind words and gestures and I’ll see them in two weeks! June is going to be rough…
After wishing everyone at Virgen de la Cabeza a very merry Christmas, I ate a quick lunch and began my six hour bus journey to Madrid. By this point in the day, I was almost certain I was coming down with something since my scratchy throat wasn’t going away. Needless to say, being stuck on a bus that long and then having to navigate the Madrid public transit system to get to my hostel did not make for the most enjoyable afternoon.
I was feeling really down after checking into my room and discovering I was going to spending the night among five smelly boys. Being sick, tired, and hungry is almost always a recipe for a few tears for me and I was a little sniffly on the phone while Michael tried to cheer me up.
Colin and I went to Mercado de San Miguel to get a quick dinner and feeling a bit better after refueling, I decided to rally for a Christmas lights walking tour. I really wish I had been feeling 100% because the light displays in Madrid were unlike anywhere I’ve seen. And, we witnessed a proposal! (She said yes).
Simply put, I did not sleep Tuesday night between rowdy Spanish teens and a snoring bunk mate. I woke up Wednesday ready to be back in the States more than anything.
Before heading to the airport, Colin and I stopped for a coffee and orange juice (Vitamin C helps colds, right?). He had also suffered through the absolute ruckus the teens were making and we commiserated on that together. We said our goodbyes and I hopped on the Metro with my final stop being Logan Airport :) Por fin!
I thought maybe I would sleep on this flight but that has been quite unsuccessful and I’ve opted to rot my brain with holiday rom coms instead. I am SO excited to see my family, and friends while I am home and I already know that 16 days is going to be too short.
So some reflection from this fall…let’s get into it.
I’ve really tried to keep the content of the blog positive and exciting, but there were times, especially in the beginning, where I was feeling anything but that. This experience has made me feel lost, out of place, confused, unhappy, worried, and a whole range of other emotions. However, now, I think these feelings were completely understandable for mourning the ending of college, moving across the world by myself, and trying to find my way in an unstructured part of life.
I feel proud of myself for pushing through my doubts and creating a life for myself in the random little city of Motril, Spain. I have a great group of friends and roommates, a job that I could not love more, and the opportunity to improve my language skills every single day. I feel very lucky to have the chance to take this year to explore and learn right out of college.
My three main takeaways from my time abroad this fall are as follows:
Expectations from previous experiences will blind you from finding joy in the present
Fluency is fluid…depends on the day, your energy levels, the topic, who you’re talking to, etc
Staying in contact with your people is invaluable <3
Thank you for staying up to date on my day-to-day and travels this fall. I hope reading these posts are as enjoyable for you as they are for me to write them. There will be many more coming in 2024 and I cannot wait to see what the new year brings :)
Feliz Navidad a todos <3
Im the aforementioned Guille and Im commenting to make those trips come true!
Jessica, you are simply a stellar human being! Love to hear about your keen insights with traveling. Sounds like you have really made a life for yourself in Spain. .I’m super proud of you!!