My Final Days of European Bliss

Clearly I'm home. Clearly, this post is so late as to be [almost] obsolete. However, it never sat right with me that there was no real closure to this blog of mine, other than my farewell letter, so consider this one of two entries that will be dedicated to officially closing out an amazing chapter of my life.

I'll try to make this summary quick and regale y'all (oh yeah, the southern lingo is back) with only the high points of my last week and a half in good ole eSpain. #PictureThis:

I came back from London (click here for deets on that trip) for all of a day and did some last-minute running around; then, I was off to Valencia and the beach. The city of Valencia is teensy and, while we did see it a little, the majority of my life for three bliss-filled days consisted of sleeping on the beach and attempting to get a tan, cuz a sistah was pale, y'all.

Makin' our way downtown

Real paella! 

Nellz and me

Some big circle thing that I just had to climb into

This is what the majority of our day consisted of

That was the life!

Came back from the beach on a Friday night, went straight to a friend's apartment for one final Spades Girls' Night and to bask in the epic-ness of the expat black sisterhood. I've always known that the sisterhood was extremely real and strong, but it takes on a different meaning when you're living in a country in which you're the vast minority. The bonds are stronger, sometimes more necessary. The relationships I built with women of color while abroad made me appreciate even more my birth sisters, sorority sisters, and the Spelman sisterhood.

Spades Night lasted until the wee hours of the morning. I literally returned to my apartment at 7:30 Saturday morning...and slept for 90 minutes before my friend came over to help me move my things out of my apartment and into hers. April is one of those people I was beyond blessed to meet and know while in Spain. She opened her apartment to me for my last 10 days in the country so I wouldn't have to pay rent for July and, in doing so, our bond was strengthened. There are certain people whose memory will be an inextricable part of my reminiscences and April Elayne is certainly one of them.

So, I moved into April's place on June 29, ran around the city bidding farewell to friends--including my Fulbright ride or die, Nelly--and purchasing last-minute souvenirs (10 months in the city and I still hadn't purchased a single keychain, y'all). On July 2, I hopped on a plane to my final European destination: Budapest.

Oh, Budapest, that lovely city of ruins. I'm going to try to make this the shortest review of a city I've ever written: Budapest is like a city that's only slightly recovered from the ravages of war and decades of communist oppression. Buildings that were obviously bombed in WWII were renovated on the inside, but still looked like the bomb survivors they were on the outside. The younger generation of people were extremely nice and chill. The older generations spoke in harsh tones and wore hard looks that bespoke of too many years of division and oppression. My food literally consisted of ghoulash, which was the most filling thing I'd eaten since my pasta binge in Italy. The House of Terror shed so much light on Hungary's roles in the World Wars and as a communist regime. The Szechenyi Bath House was a nice experience, though I'm not typically the public bath type...and I wore a bathing suit.

Opera House. Opera season ended the weekend before I arrived :(

Buda Castle at night 

Outside the Buda castle

"Because of all Ronald Reagan did to help lift the veil of communism, the people of
Budapest built a statue in his honor." Who listened on their tour!?

Cruise along the Danube. Behind me is the Hungarian Parliament building,
the second largest one in the world, after the building in London. It has 365 pillars.
Yes for this tour, though! #Historygeek

Heroe's Square

Szechenyi Bath House

Ghoulash and Hungarian bubbly

July 4: 'Pendence Day in 'Murca. Still based in Budapest, I took a day trip 3 hours north to Vienna, Austria, where I was ready to serenade any Austrian out there with a medley of songs from "The Sound of Music." Vienna was lovely, people were a lot more open (they escaped communism), and the city actually looked like it had recovered, though there was a lot to be said for having to use euros again when I was so used to my nice, dirt cheap Hungarian forint. I took a walking tour of the biggies: Heldenplatz, where Hitler gave his famous annexation speech; the National Theater; and the Spanish riding school, among other things. Ate some strudel and sacher tort and hopped on a train back to Budapest. On July 6, I ended my Hungarian adventure.

Viennese Cathedral

Tribute to those Jews killed during the Holocaust

National Theater in Vienna

Top of the monument statue to commemorate the Black Plague

Strudel

Sacher Torte. A little too much chocolate for my taste, but thank
goodness for whipped cream!

Quick caveat: how small is the world? Can't guess? It's so small that I saw my friend Atiyah at the Budapest airport when I arrived, waiting to board it to go back to Madrid. I legitimately stood there talking to her for about 20 minutes, until security personnel started looking at me suspiciously. #memories

After returning to Madrid, I had about 72 hours that I tried to fill with as many memories and good times as possible. More souvenir shopping (never do that at the last minute, ever); church one last time (where I still managed to meet new people!); breaking bread at April's and my favorite Senegalese place, Baobab in Lavapies; and one final dinner with friends at my favorite Thai restaurant in Huertas on Calle Arenal (esquina con Calle Borradores). Returned to April's place, shoved some more things in my already filled luggage and, a few hours later, on the morning of July 9, I hopped on a plane to begin my journey home.

Senegalese with April and Amos after church

Still not sure if Max is the owner of our fave Senegalese joint
or if he just works there, but he acts like he owns it.

This one, tho...the fantab April Elayne

Great to have broken bread with these fab souls on my last
evening in Madrid

Last [Spanish] Supper: Sea Bass in Thai Sweet Basil Sauce

The following is what I posted on Facebook a few hours before I left Spain, which adequately summarized every emotion that coursed through me and which still does:

No hay lágrimas en esta ocasión. Ni proclamas dramáticas que triunfalmente volveré algún día. No hay besos frenéticos mientras trato de meter en unas pocas horas preciosas. Ni apresurado paseo por el carril de la memoria. En su lugar, me voy con el corazón lleno y un poco pesado. El conocimiento de que no volveré flota en mi cabeza y causa un dolor sordo en mi interior. La cruda realidad de que el fin de una época ha llegado verdaderamente me deja sin palabras. No voy a volver pronto, lo sé a ciencia cierta. Cuando yo regreso, no va a ser así y puedo aceptar eso. He sido bendecido con 13,5 meses (tanto estudio y la enseñanza) de momentos y recuerdos que será apreciado por toda la vida silvestre. Por eso, para forzar a crecer, por las amistades hechos y solidificadas, y por un paseo fenomenal, a ti te digo: "Mil gracias."

Translated:

There are no tears this time. Nor dramatic proclamations that I will triumphantly return one day. There are no frantic kisses as I try to cram in a few precious hours. Nor a hurried trip down memory lane. In its place, I leave with a full and slightly heavy heart. The knowledge that  I won't return floats in my head and causes a dull pain inside of me. The stark reality that the end of an era has arrived leaves me veritably without words. I won't return soon, this I know for certain. When I do come back, it won't be like this and I can accept that. I've been blessed with 13.5 months (both studying and teaching) of moments and memories that I will cherish for all of my life. For this, for forcing me to grow, for friendships made and solidified, and for one helluva ride, to you I say, "Thank you."