Hasta septiembre!

Today is my last full day in Navalmoral until September.  As I look back on where I was at this time last year, I can’t believe how much of a difference just one year can make.

Last year on my last day here, I was a wreck. I sobbed when I had to say my goodbyes and didn’t even try to hide my tears in the airport, as mascara ran down my face and people stared at me. This year, I’m so excited and happy to be going home for the summer...because I know I’ll be coming back here.

Navalmoral has really turned into my home. I always tell people, “If my family and friends from the USA would just come here, life would be perfect.” I know that’s not a possibility and that I will always be missing something from the USA when I’m in Spain and something from Spain when I’m in the USA...but for now, I’m happy.

So many people who have lived in Navalmoral their whole lives, don’t understand why I love it so much.  They just think it’s an ugly small town where there’s nothing to do.  I don’t see it like that.  While people might say that Navalmoral is not the most beautiful place, I can travel to Salamanca or La Vera or Andalucía whenever I want to see gorgeous buildings and nature. The physical beauty of the town is not what concerns me...its heart does. And Navalmoral de la Mata has a very big heart. It’s a community where you can walk down the streets and most often see, at the very least, one person you know.  It’s a place where people reach out to me just because I’m foreign.  They embrace me and treat me as one of their own, while not expecting anything in return.  Just today when I was entering my apartment building, a young family was coming out. I had never met them before or even seen them.  As they held the door open for me, the wife asked in English, “Where are you from?” I said, “The United States.”  She replied in all sincerity, “Oh wow, that’s wonderful. Well, if you ever need anything we’re in 2A.” That’s not something that happens everywhere.

This is one of the many reasons that I couldn’t leave here for good...again. I needed to come back.  Come back to the morning pastries and cafés con leche. Come back to late nights spent dancing and running into everyone you know at the bars and staying out until the churros shop opens. Come back to going for a walk down the street with someone with no intended destination. I could go on for pages and pages, but I think you understand.

Though this year was very different than last year here, I learned even more about myself this time around.  Last year I learned how to travel alone and how to explore the world fearlessly.  This year, I learned how to survive the world fearlessly and how to stand up for myself in ways that I never could before.

I remember during my first year here, around February when I had to decide to renew for another year or not, I was walking down the street and I thought, “I’ve gotten all that I can get out of this place. It’s time for something new.” Over the next few months I figured out that wasn’t true and I kicked myself over and over for deciding not to return for another year.  In the end, it all worked out and I was able to come back.  However, now and then I find myself questioning if I truly have gotten all that I can get out of Navalmoral and if it is time to move on...and the answer is always a constant “No.”