I Miss My Trumpet!

Spain is awesome, but I definitely miss a few things from the good ol' USA. Here are some things I miss, in the order I miss them:

Andy: being 4270 miles apart isn't fun.

Friends and Family: same. 4270 miles sucks.

Music: my host family has a piano, but it's so out of tune that playing it is actually painful. I miss being in band a lot, probably because I've never gone this long without playing. The other day I saw a trumpet in a shop window and I seriously stood there staring at it for about 5 minutes before I snapped out of it. The university doesn't really have a concert band; they have an orchestra, but it conflicts with a lot of my classes. Man, I miss music.

Milk: the milk here is so weird. It's called UHT, which means Ultra-high-temperature processing. It also means that you don't have to refrigerate the milk before you open it. It always tastes really sweet and creamy, sort of like I'm drinking a creamer, but not. I miss my American pasteurized skim milk!

Buffalo Wild Wings: they don't exist in Spain and ohmygodIwishtheydid.

Pizza Hut: they don't really exist here either. They have pizza, but it's weird.

Pancakes: ohhh God, pancakes. They don't eat pancakes for breakfast, or in fact at all here. However, I have heard of a few restaurants in other parts of Madrid that sell pancakes...I'm gonna have to stop by.

Pets: oh yeah, plenty of people around here have pets. The thing is, I just can't touch them. It's the worst. If you see the fluffiest, cutest group of 3 Pomeranians on a walk, you just can't coo at them and pet them and hug and kiss them, because that's not what normal people do, ever.

Walmart: I just miss the convenience of it. You go in, you get everything you need, you leave. Here, everything is separated. The medicine is only sold in the pharmacies, the hair supplies are only sold in specialty stores or el Corte Ingles (too expensive,) and snacks are pretty much only sold in liquor shops.

That may actually be everything I miss, in a nutshell, at least. At the same time, though, there is so much of Spain that I love and will miss when I leave! Here's what I will miss from Spain, not necessarily in any order:

Lunch meat: I hate ham, but the ham here is delicious. The turkey is really good too.

Bread: people have bread with every meal here. I never have too much, but it's really good, and it's so charming to see people walking down the street with a long baguette tucked under an arm! :o)

Architecture: oh man, do I love the way things look here. Balconies, lofty windows, pretty facades...I wish buildings looked like this in the US!

The Metro: the subway here is really clean, fast, convenient, and affordable. What I will NOT miss is the pickpockets in the metro.

People: the people are so nice here. The other day, I ran into an elderly lady in the elevator who just struck up a friendly conversation with me! Even if my Spanish is terribly awkward, people are still so nice to me.

European friends: of course!

Sangria: enough said. Actually, I'm going to miss the drinking age here as well...it's going to be weird heading back to the USA and not being able to drink for like 6 months til I turn 21.

There's more of that too, but I'm not heading back yet! I've got about 4 months left here, and I intend to make the best of them!! :)

Luego!