Valió la Pena

Today marks one month of being back in the States and I could not be happier about it. I feel like I've been here for so much longer than a month, but it's been exactly 30 days. I'm finding it hard to believe. Spain seems like a very distant memory to me, and I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Sort of as if it were a really long vacation. I was there for 134 days, but it took less than a quarter of that space of time to forget most of it. That's can't be good, right? It makes me feel a little guilty, almost, like I should have paid more attention and tried to soak more of it in while I was there. While in Spain, I had to tell myself that I was doing my best and that I had to be okay with that. I'm doing the same thing now. I did what I could and I'm okay with it.

Usually, I get the question, "How was it?" Yesterday, a someone asked me, "Was it worth it?" My initial reaction was to say "no" because the first thing I thought of was being frustrated and lonely. Thank goodness I said "yes" so that I wouldn't have to tell him about that. I just said "yes" and smiled and provided an explanation involving how great it was to travel, how much my Spanish improved, etc. He got his ice cream, we said good bye, and that was that.

I've been thinking more and more about it, calculating the pros and cons in my head. I'm happy to say that the  pros have won, posting a win for the "worth it" side. Here are a few of the less obvious reasons:
 - A boy who turned out to be the son of two missionaries in Nicaragua came into the store yesterday and I was able to talk with him in Spanish for several minutes. He thought it was so cool that I knew Spanish. I thought it was so cool that I REMEMBERED Spanish.
 - I have a greater appreciation for the differences in the racial/ethnic labels we use. I know many people that use "Mexican" or "Spanish" as a blanket term to refer to anyone that speaks Spanish or is Hispanic. Let's clarify: Spanish is an adjective used to describe people or things that come from Spain. Mexicans are people that live in or come from Mexico. There are 16 other Spanish-speaking countries in Central and South America, and "Mexican" does not to refer to any of the people that live in those countries. If you must use a blanket term, use "hispanoamerican" or "latinoamerican."
 - People smile and sometimes even say "hi" when you pass them in the street here. I never appreciated until last semester, where people stare you up and down instead of smiling at you.
 - I can actually participate in conversations centering on Spanish soccer. And by "participate," I really mean "pretend to be mildly interested and insert a few "Viva Barça"s in from time to time." But at least I know what they're talking about and that Real Madrid is composed of fruitcakes.

In short, yes, sir, it was worth it. Thank you for asking. :)