Howdy,

This past weekend was probably one of the best of my time here in Spain. It was the weekend of February 17th, and on Monday was my 17th birthday. Oliver stayed over at my house on Friday and Saturday nights, saying that he didn’t want to miss my birthday weekend and that his host family was going out of town so he didn’t have another option. He and my host sister, Carlota, became best friends immediately, and are actually a lot like each other. In addition, one of my good friends from Georgia who is also doing an exchange in Spain from a different program, Elijah, came to Sevilla to see me for my birthday. Elijah brought his friend, and during the weekend I showed them all over Sevilla. On Sunday morning, Carlota told me that our mom wanted to meet them, so we planned a lunch together at her bar. When we arrived, it turned out that they had all planned a surprise party for me! I had no idea and they had been planning it for weeks! Carlota had invited my best Spanish friends from school, my American friends, and my two friends from Madrid, and we all had a delicious lunch together followed by an incredible cake. I felt so comfortable switching between the two languages, and it was so amazing to have all my groups of friends together, getting along, laughing, and eating good food. It truly was a meld of my new cultures and languages. Instead of being Spaniards or Americans, we were just teenage friends. In fact, the language barrier just made it more fun because even a simple conversation became so much more fun when a word or phrase was messed up and everyone was trying to explain it. I truly feel like I belong here now, and what seemed like what was going to be a long year suddenly feels way too short. I am so comfortable with my friends and host family and Spain that I never want to leave. I love where I am and I love my life and I love learning new things every day. This past weekend, someone asked me if I was sure that I was American because my Spanish was so good. And another person told me that they wished that they could be bilingual like me, which I am definitely not, but hearing that makes this whole year so much better. I love everything here. I am so so so happy. Happy 17th to me 🙂

my birthday cake coming out:

Starting off second semester really well! Love love love!!

Peace,

~Parker Grove