Spain Changing Me For the Better and Forever:

There are days I still can't believe I am here. I look at the days that I have left and I used to look and think ¨Alright this many more days until I get to hug my mom and dad!¨ Now I look and think ¨Damn, this many more days until I have to say goodbye to all my friends here.¨ It's quite strange how the world works. Personally, I have always been a free-spirit that didn't necessarily have one group to fit into. I do have quite a few friends but only a handful I am able to consider to be my closest friends in the whole world after years of knowing each other. However, here it's so different. I make friends so easily and feel so much more accepted here. I don't know if it's because as an outsider you do have to try to socialize more. I love my college back in NY and the people there, but there is just something about these people here that I feel more at home with. It's strange because I can hardly speak their language but yet I still have so many friends from around the world. Maybe what it comes down to is here I am not afraid to be myself. Here I am not a DIII athlete, a student of this specific major, a girl from a family that is well-known in her town, an employee, or any other labels I have gained over the past years. Here I am just Nancy, a student traveling and seeing as much as she can. It's a beautiful thing. In one way or form I feel that I have regained a lot of happiness within myself that the teenage years tend to wash away from a lot of people. My age is such a weird time to be living because you're an adult but you're not quite there yet. Sure you can get serious about a long-term job or relationship but at the end of the day I am only 19. I have this urge to start my life and settle as soon as possible but then again, that could be at least 10 years from now! Overall this rambling specific post is a mix of how studying in Valencia has been the best thing I have ever done and I am forever grateful to have this opportunity
not just for the experience but for changing me for the better.