I’m enjoying my second week at home before I head back to Barcelona on Saturday. Even though I love Barcelona and love living there, it’s always nice to go home for a while. “There’s no place like home” is a cliché for a reason!
Home sweet home!
In no particular order, here are some things I’m loving about being home:
- Good food, whether that means going out to eat at my favorite restaurant (El Trigo! Best Mexican food ever) or having home cooked dinners, it’s nice to eat familiar foods.
- English language mindless T.V. House Hunters International is my favorite! I don’t even have a T.V. in Spain, so channel surfing is the best.
- Endless cups of tea. My mum makes the world’s best tea, and I’ve been drinking about 8 cups a day.
We drink the Wallace & Gromit-approved kind! But we don’t have their amazing teapot. (Photo via The Wallace & Gromit Wiki)
- Sunshine! It cooled off in Barcelona pretty quickly, but it’s lovely and sunny here. Well, except when it was 107 for the first two days.
- And on a related note, swimming! There’s nothing better than relaxing in the pool on a beautiful sunny California day.
- My pet cats are always fun to see, because seeing them really isn’t the same over Skype!
- Enjoying my hometown in a different way and appreciating new stuff – like bars!
- Seeing how things have changed. Sometimes this is good. But sometimes it’s not so nice, like when I drove past my old elementary school last week and found out it’d closed down.
- Catching up with family and old friends, though sadly none of my friends live in my hometown any more.
And on a more serious note:
- Understanding everything. I’m a pretty good Spanish speaker, but some days it’s still an uphill battle to communicate correctly.
- Not sticking out for my hair color, skin tone, or accent. The picture of me to the left should explain why I’m baffled that nobody ever mistakes me as Spanish…I’m holding the Estrella cerveza and everything! 🙂
Ooh, and in true California fashion I just felt an earthquake! I’m definitely not in Spain anymore.
Ahh, it’s good to be home! But I’ll be back to Barcelona on Saturday, and I’m sure there’s a discoteca ticket or two waiting for me to help me readjust…
Besos!
-Jess
I love visiting home! My husband and I will be spending 9 days there at Christmastime and I can’t wait for my mom’s desserts, Tex-Mex restaurants and crazy shopping!
We get House Hunters International here in Mexico (in English with Spanish subtitles) 🙂
Ahhh so jealous of your House Hunters International! 🙂 Have fun on your holiday visit!
I can relate to all of them. I just moved back to Spain, or rather Pais Vasco for round 2 of adventure! So far so good.
Where are you from in California? And how long have you been in Spain? It’s been a few years right?
Nice! Hope you enjoy your second year 🙂
I grew up in Riverside (it’s kind of between L.A. and San Diego), and I’ve been in Spain since June 2011.
I love being home for the same reasons. MEXICAN FOOD anytime all the time 😀
Yeahhh, Spain really needs to jump on the Mexican food train!
I don’t have a TV in Spain either, so I was all over Netflix when I was home! I don’t usually watch that much TV but having so many options at my fingertips was pretty darn amazing.
Cassandra recently posted…20 Spanish Things I Miss in America
Haha I know, I’ve binge-watched an entire season of Breaking Bad, and that was just today! I recently got a T.V. in my new apartment in Spain, but it’s not the same as all the amazing junk T.V. on here.
As much as I love to travel, I LOVE being home. I’m from San Diego, so when I’m there I eat mass amounts of Mexican food, chat with random people all the time (because I CAN!) catch up on crappy television and bask in the glory of being able to leave your stuff on the beach and not get it stolen!
jessica wray recently posted…My First Week Living in Madrid
Haha I headed straight for the Mexican food when I got home! I’m also currently watching crappy T.V. and chatting with random people from home. It’s the small things!