Whatever happened to predictability...

You know when things are going perfectly? Walking on sunshine? Kickin’down the cobblestone? You feel great, the world loves you, you love the world. Doors open for you. Strangers smile. The elevator is always waiting for you. You only trip once a day. Everything is dandy. Yeah I only let myself feel that way for about 24 hours give or take, when I decide I have made too many good decisions in a row and that I need to do something to send my self esteem and sense of security on a one way train to Serbia. I was having a fantastic week and it was absolutely overwhelming for me and my neurotic nature. What do you mean I have nothing to worry about? If I can’t gripe, complain, and panic, my lymph nodes start convulsing and something short circuits and I make less than stellar choices. I was feeling like an independent woman of the world – capable of anything within my reach. Clearly, I could not stand for this – something needed to change. I did nothing terrible or even out of the ordinary – to put it simply – I was not my best self. I am 20 years old and still very much in the making mistakes phase of my life, but I can’t seem to accept that either. The last two days I’ve just been down and feeling unworthy of all the opportunities I have. I’ve wanted to put my tail between my legs and go back to Poughkeepsie where everything is easy and I can rationalize away all my faults.
I’ve said it before but I have met absolutely PHENOMENAL people here. I am a firm believer that you should always have friends that challenge you and remind you that you have a lot more work to do in the personal development department. My friends here are all smarter, wiser,kinder, and funnier than I am and have embraced the full, flawed version of me (something I have yet to do). One of the girls in my group, Laura, is from Boston and we share a dry, East coast sense of humor and a lack of shame. She has been looking forward for her family to visit for weeks and would tell us a new little story about them every day( Al Gore garbage cans, love of jazz, eggs and potatoes,etc), so we could get a little picture of what we were in for.
Nothing really could have prepared us for the Stewart’s descent on Salamanca. They arrived on Friday and the group of API girls met up with them on Saturday in the Plaza for some sightseeing and food. We were met with 4 very happy, welcoming New England faces (thank god more east coasters!) – Mr & Mrs Stewart, her uncle who was lovingly dubbed Tio Ponce Miguel, and her brother Robert aka Dr Pizza, who was a surprise addition to the visit.
We all spent the first afternoon wandering through the Cathedral together. Mr Stewart snapped away with his new camera, Uncle Ponce chatted with the locals, Mrs. Stewart teared up a few times and rocked a euro-chic scarf, and Dr Pizza helped us quote the Unforgivable video. It was so nice to be around people who were excited to be here – I wouldn’t say we are jaded but sometimes it’s easy to forget that we are living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and that Christopher Columbus lectured at our school . I do my homework in front of a renaissance cathedral- to which most days I say, eh the wireless sucks here. The Stewart’s filled every moment with wonder and gratitude and shared that with all of us. They were more and more thrilled with each thing we showed them and every bite of jamon iberico was more delicious than the last. And as the afternoon went on, we all became prouder and prouder of Salamanca. We said good night to the Stewarts and let them enjoy some family time.
The next day, after siesta and life chats with Paquita ( we are taking yoga classes together starting next week – I know, we’re precious) I headed back to that haggard, old renaissance cathedral to get me some internet. I was almost at the Plaza when I ran into the whole Stew clan in search of their next Spanish adventure. This was around 430 - one thing led to another and I ended up barhopping with them until 930. Laura took them to some Salamanca standards but they also found a ton of new places on their own and charmed all the Spaniards with their sheer adorable-ness.
I . Had. The. Best. Time. They totally got me out of my funk of self loathing. Families are just bursting with unconditional love, which is something you’re not always conscious of until you’re 3000 miles away in a new city where you know no one. It was so sweet to see how much Laura’s family missed her, how proud they were that she has this new experience, and how thankful they were that we were there to share it with her. We all needed to be around a family – something normal and familiar and the Stewarts were a perfect boost for all of us. They were so generous and genuinely interested in each of us and our lives and what we were doing. By the end of the night, we were all invited to her house, Mr Stewart and I had fist-bumped at least 5 times, and Dr. Pizza was calling me eM-dAwG ( spelling and capitalization implied). I don’t remember ever having such an absolutely care-free afternoon.
The Stewarts definitely made me miss my own family, who I’m sure will be just as thrilled and overwhelmed with everything. When my parents land in Europe armed with Life as Good/Colombia gear, Tevas, and broken Spanish, some laughs are bound to occur (as soon as I mop them both off the floor). Seeing Laura and Dr. Pizza hanging out made me miss my sister a ton too. I won’t get to see her until December 23rd which is absolutely the longest time we have been apart EVER – barring that 9 month period of time when she was not too accessible to me. It’s getting to the point with my family where the roles are a little less strict and we’re more just a group of like -minded people who just happened to have spent the last 20ish years together. My mom and dad aren’t visiting until November but I will be meeting my Aunt Molly and Uncle Bob in Barcelona on Thursday, so I will get a family fix sooner rather than later. They have taken care of EVERYTHING and are some of the most experienced travelers I know, so it will probably be a weekend that Rick Steves himself would envy.
The Stew fam also reminded me of how many things America does right. So many people come back from study abroad with this pretentious idea that everything in Europe was just so different and so much better and they can barely stand this American bourgeois existence. But watching the Stewarts and Spain fall in love, I realized that most Americans are nice and generous and ready to learn and ready to have fun. Yeah we might not always be dressed in stiletto boots and a scowl and we might not have ancient relics just lying around ( I commented in Portugal that we had now probably used toilets older than America) but we will smile, give you a tip, ask you about your kids, say thank you 19 times over, and most times we really wanna learn about whatever we can and immerse ourselves in the experiences of others. So if you are reading Stewarts- thanks for letting us tag along with you this weekend!