ya está

And so it ends...not the world, although it is depressing that my time is Spain se acabó.

Actually, my time in Spain ended yesterday, seeing how I've been stuck in the London-Heathrow airport for nearly a solid day. Por Diós...Originally I thought "oh, ok, silver lining -- I get to walk around London." But then I changed my mind, because I was too crestfallen about not being able to get home that day, so I just stayed in the airport. I am getting cabin fever from being in the airport for so long - and yes, I slept here last night. Why? I just thought it would be more fun to buy a new outfit at one of those duty free stores than pay for a hotel stay, especially seeing how I don't have my toiletries (minus deodorant, which I packed seeing how this being-stranded-with-no-luggage situation has happened to me before...I also had the foresight to throw extra clothes in my carry on, for the same reason).

The reason I ended up stranded in London, in the first place, is because UK border control took up my entire layover time yesterday, so I missed my flight to LA. The last flight to LA for yesterday. I started swearing and crying and throwing a pity party of one in front of the dude at the British Airlines customer service desk. The cherry on top of this FML story is this: I had to dish out $200 to get on the flight today, which I was pissed off to have to do. @#)$*@#)%*@&

Whew.

Anyway, SPAIN. I can't believe I'm not going back to Spain for who knows how long, and I probably won't ever live there again, either. After I arrived in Madrid with Claire and we parted ways, I had a mini breakdown, partly out of lack of sleep, hormones, being unemployed now, and leaving Spain, of course. I'm still feeling a bit Debbie Downer -- every time I think about how I can't foresee what's going to happen in the future, I have a renewed bout of anxiety, but what can ya do? I plan on spreading my resume out like a fire hose at every writing position I am qualified for, seeing how the economy sucks a big one and it's going to be really hard for a 23 year old to get A) any sort of writing job, seeing how I have less experience than many, and B) a job where I have a hope at being financially independent, i.e. not living in a cardboard box. RAHHHHH.

OK, depressing stuff aside, let me recount my last few weeks in Spain ---

Lots has happened, actually, seeing how I've neglected my poor little blog. Woops. I went back to Ireland to visit my family there (descendents of my great-great grandma Bridget Moriarity-Parker -- my great grandpa Tom Parker's first cousins are living there, so my closest living Irish relation is my first cousin THREE TIMES REMOVED). That visit was awesome. Most of the time I was joining in the celebration for little 8 year-old Aoibhe's first communion, in Cahersiveen, County Kerry, Ireland. Oh, and I got to jump on one of those enormous trampolines, while in Ireland, which was definitely a fun time.


...May I just interrupt this blog post to state how exhausted I am? I am feeling slightly delirious and I stare off into space as my vision blurs, involuntarily, and it takes all my willpower to keep my eyes open. Luckily, blasting Queen music in my headphones makes it less likely that I will fall asleep in the near future. Oh, and caffeine intake. /tangent.

After I got back from Ireland, the reality of my expat life style ending hit, even though the idea didn't really sink in (still hasn't). The girls and I started planning various farewell parties amongst ourselves. Claire and I had the idea that it would be a lot of fun to throw a Dundie party, a la The Office, so we organized that. I got to be the MC, due to my....I don't know? Constant desire to be an attention whore? Ability to recite quotes from The Office, verbatim? My overflowing amounts of wit and charm?? Yes...all three. Anyway, we decided that we would have one serious and one funny award for each of us, and the awards were as follows:

• Becca -- A) Most likely to need a new passport due to lack of space for new stamps, B) Most likely to consume massive amounts of pasta and butter
• Claire -- A) Most likely to find the perfect place to jog in any given country, B) Most likely to go to Spain to teach and not to have sex
• Emily -- A) Most likely to have an outstanding fine at Caramelandia B) Most likely to stay out the latest unless she has to clean her apartment for the 15th time that week
  
• Kim -- A) Most likely to be the only teaching assistant to have a Spanish driver's license, B) Most likely to still be living in Spain in 10 years
• Michelle -- A) Most likely to cook ridiculous amounts of food and share it with everyone else, B) Most likely to bare it all at a nudist beach
• Meg -- A) Most likely to make people to pee their pants laughing, B) Most likely to punch someone in the tooth, again

...Clearly most of the funny awards come from the inside jokes we've had over the past year, so I won't bother to explain them, seeing how that will ruin the beauty of them. I will say, however, that we TAPED the Dundie awards, and I am in the process of editing the footage into a mini movie, so I'll put that up, shortly.

What else? I finally hit up the Spanish discotecas, which I had (believe it or not), never done. One of the reasons why I never went is because I don't know the young crowd in Cabra. I might have said this a billion times, already, but here it is, again: Cabra is loaded with ridiculously old people (here's a mental image for you: people who take an hour to walk the length of a football field). So, it makes it really hard to make friends in my age group. I know several Spanish guys in their 30s, but I feel a bit strange hanging out with guys who have 10+ years on me. I also know a 25 year old guy named Pablo, so he's the one I went out with the most, in Cabra, and his friends.
The other girls went out to the discotecas often enough, but I felt a bit discouraged to do with them, seeing how they went with their Spanish boyfriends and spent a good portion of their time playing tonsil hockey with them instead of interacting with others. I would rather drink toilet water than be around THAT, so...that's one reason I hardly went out, in Cabra. Woops.

I have plenty of pictures of my last few weeks in Cabra, so I'll get around to putting those up here, ASAP. Even though my Euro trip is over, my blog will have a pulse for a bit longer -- never fear, faithful few who read my humble blog!

Gotta go -- gonna board my flight soon, thank God. Eleven hour flight = wooooooooooo!!!