A Final Post

These last seventy-two hours have been quite the ride. Moments of elation followed by moments of deep sadness. It's a terrible thing-- saying goodbye to people who I've grown so close to in such a short period of time, and promising we'll keep in touch and see each other again, but knowing that will probably only be true with maybe a handful of people. But life continues onward, and I'm fortunate to have so many good things and people waiting for me back in the United States. So in commemoration of everything that has happened, and expectation of all the goods things that are yet to happen, here is my list of my top 15 things I'll miss about Spain, and my top 15 things I'm looking forward to back home, in no particular order.

Things from Spain I'll Miss:

-My host family

-My new friends here

-Speaking Spanish

-Tortillas con Patatas

-Hormiguero 3.0 (an awesome Spanish talk show where they make the guests do crazy things)

-Easy travel to other countries

-Day trips to Madrid

-The old Spanish men who walk with their hands clasped behind their backs in their cute old man hats

-Super Sonic and La Media Pinta (my favorite Madrid bar and my favorite Alcalá bar)

-The constant adventure

-Reliable public transportation (the regular trains to and from Madrid)

-Being with people who I still don't know much about

-Having Fridays off from class

-The simplification that comes with no volunteer positions, no job, and a light school schedule

-Living in a town where I am still figuring things out

Things I'm excited for in the U.S.:

-My family

-My friends

-My boyfriend, Jared

-Eureka my hedgehog (as long as she doesn't bite me)

-Mexican food (mainly guacamole and nachos)

-My independence (doing my own laundry, driving myself around, making my own food)

-Christmas and snow

-The awesome local restaurants in Fort Collins

-Hosting my radio show

-Brunch (just big breakfasts in general)

-The feeling of home

-Being with people I have a past with

-Not living with a 13-year-old boy

-Going to Old Firehouse Books and "working" with all my friends (it's hard for me to call spending my day in a bookstore work)

-Living in a town I could navigate blindfolded

This will probably be my last post to this blog, since (obviously) the theme of this one no longer applies. I've enjoyed blogging, though (despite my infrequent posts) and might continue again at a new site. If this is the case, I'll be sure to post once more here just to let you if you want to continue following my life adventures. Thanks for reading, I can't wait to see you all again!

Love,

Kelsey

Cooking with Pepi

Less than two weeks left to go and I'm cramming in as much Spanish culture as I can. This means cooking lessons, something I've managed to avoid even in the United States throughout most of my life, but I figured I'd need something to prove I'd been here (and thank the parents for their financial help) and a good traditional Spanish dish seemed right! Not to mention, of all the food I'll miss in Spain, I'll miss the "Tortilla con Patatas" most. (Note: not the ham.)

As you can probably tell from the picture above, the Spanish tortilla is almost nothing like Mexican tortilla we are all so familiar with, except that they're both flat and round. The Spanish tortilla is much more similar to an omelette, the ingredients I learned to use include potatoes, eggs, olive oil and salt. That's seriously it. I'm sure there are other variations out there, but with my less-than-advanced level of cooking skills, the easier the better. The process essentially involves mixing all of the ingredients together in a big bowl, and then frying it. Easy enough, yet I still managed to break the first one when trying to flip it over. This dish in my house is always accompanied by a tomato salad which is somehow even easier than the tortilla. All the salad include is tomatoes, salt, vinegar, and olive oil. (Spaniards love olive oil almost as much as they love ham.) I don't know if I'll ever be able to live up to the cooking styles of my host-mom, Pepi, but I'll sure by trying when I get back to Colorado! If you're interested in sampling some, just show up with some potatoes and I'll show you how to make this delicious, simple, cheap dish. Or you can check out this website below which includes onions in the recipe, so it's a little too fancy for me, but I have confidence in you to figure it out!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/tortillaspanishomele_67957