Yesterday I finished catching up on my trip to Sweden. And tomorrow I’ll start in on my two weeks in London, which is going to be awesome and I can’t wait because I really did love London and I have a lot I want to share with you guys.. I actually did have a whole, huge post all typed up, but it got kind of messy and out of hand, which I decided wasn’t quite what I wanted and ended up deleting it. Which is slightly ironic considering it was sort of along the lines of, “The things on my blog are not entirely my real life,”/”Life is not perfect,”/etc., which is basically stuff I know you guys already know.
I like to think that I keep things pretty real on my blog. Trying to balance out the whole, “Yay! New places and people and languages and this is great!” with the very real reality that is, “I am lonely and have no idea what’s going on and the language is tripping me up and why are kids so annoying and I’m so homesick all I want to do is curl up and cry.” Now, I really hope that I translate those feelings a lot better than that, but I do really try to keep this blog balanced so that it’s not this sunshine and eternal rainbows thing, though, let’s be honest: no one wants to read a list of unfortunate things. Because that’s sad and no one wants to just read sad things.
The thing is though, is that life, normally, or at least I find it that way, tends to try and keep things in balance. Super awesome things sometimes tend to have a balancing not so awesome thing, while not so awesome things have silver linings. I’ve been in Spain about a month now and while I realize and accept that it will take time, learning and a period of adjustments, that doesn’t erase the fact that it’s also a bit tough. Between feeling really lost with Spanish and re-learning how to live with a family, plus a huge bought of homesickness that I can’t quite seem to shake, coupled with issues with missing mail and trying to figure out how to sort it out, it’s been nice not having to post about my day-to-days because I wasn’t sure if I could spin everything positively.
And then my mom sent me an email. Three of my best friends Skyped me one after another this week, after not having the chance to talk to them for the last month and it was nice to catch up with them about everything and nothing. My sister sent me that letter up there and it meant a lot to me because she’s witty and smart and I miss her a lot and it’s nice to know she’s thinking of me. I found a store that carries the water bottle I forgot in Stockholm. My new host mom said we could do a Christopherson like brunch some Sunday if I wanted to. Also that she’d get me any ingredients I want for baking and I’ve been craving banana bread. Charmed was on TV tonight and it reminded me of when we went to Disney in 2008, which was an awesome trip and one of my favourite memories.
Are the next few weeks/months still going to be difficult? Yes. Am I still going to be frustrated with my lack of Spanish? Definitely. Will I still curse time difference and schedules and how things just don’t seem to align when I want them to and how I just really wish all my favourite people were here with me? Absolutely.
The thing is though, as all these random little things re-re-re-re-reminded me, is that, if things worked out how I wanted them to, they wouldn’t be as good as they could be. The letter from my sister wouldn’t have arrived when it did. My friends wouldn’t have Skyped me three days running. I would have ended up watching CSI instead of Charmed and I wouldn’t have gotten the warm fuzzies from the memory of that trip. On a bigger scale, if things went how I planned them, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to go to Sweden or London this summer and I wouldn’t be in Spain right now. And while I really do miss all my favourite people, I’m also getting the awesome chance to meet other, awesome people, which is a thing I do really like doing.
If you happen to also be having a bit of an off day/week/month, here are some links to try and cheer you up a bit. What’s that saying? “A sorrow shared is a sorrow halved.” Which, really, can be applied to any of those not-quite-happy feelings everyone gets. Hopefully one or two or a few of these links will bring a smile to your face and, at least for a moment, give you a bit of a boost.
Things I’m Loving: (The ‘I Need a Smile’ Edition)
+ 31 must see sights on Earth – (It’s so mind blowing to think how diverse our planet is.)
+ Make your day a bit better – (As this post illustrates: it’s the little things.)
+ These art .gifs – (For being adorable and relatable.)
+ Collaborating with a 4-year-old – (Kids man. They know what’s up.)
+ Help fill the silence – (For all those awkward silences.)
+ This post – (For being positive and full of quotes and there when I needed it.)
+ And this post – (Because she’s always so positive and her posts are amazing and I just really liked this one.)
+ Listen to a favourite song – (This is one of mine.)
Blue Eyed Sight 