Take the TEFL exam? Check. Give my final lesson? Check. I FEEL GOOD.

Really good.

And I'm getting very excited for the next stop on this road of life. I am feeling very positive right now, in case you haven't noticed! In fact, I have decided that I have a lot to be very grateful for right about now...

I'm in Spain, first of all. Again. (gratitude x 2!)
I have met some awesome people here, and I plan to keep in touch with them.
My parents are giving me a lot of emotional support right now that it makes me realize yet again, how incredibly selfless they are.
My mother made my week with this sentence: "Love you more than anyone or anything." I am not an only child, mind you...*hint hint* Favorite child! No, just kidding.
I have a job that I will soon be doing. I will be getting a paycheck. Ah...just the thought of this is enough to make me smile.
I feel great about my TEFL exam and my final lesson.
I am seeing a friend from Barcelona on Friday: my hostess from last summer...a.k.a. Tia Carmen.
I am pretty much living one of my dreams (travelling, and working while doing it.)

I'm not trying to come across as boastful; it's just that it's a good time to realize where I am right now (figuratively speaking) and I need to reflect on the people and circumstances that got me here. It's truly amazing when you think about it...I was never even going to attend Albright. But I did, and there I discovered my love of Spanish. And through Spanish I was introduced to studying abroad. And through studying abroad I found out that I absolutely love it abroad. And through that love came the idea that maybe I could work abroad. And now I'm here, and I'm learning to become an English teacher, and I'm headed to South America in a few days, and I couldn't be more grateful.

So many people deserve a genuine thank you from me for all of their help. Too many to list here, and most likely, they know who they are. Many of them have been thanked before, but giving thanks for me is kind of like eating sushi-I can never get enough of it.

Speaking of sushi, I've been moving towards becoming a full vegetarian, and now the only time I eat fish is when I eat sushi. Being abroad, I probably won't be eating much sushi. It's not that it's not available, it's just that I need to pinch pennies like crazy, so no dining out! However, I will be eating better once I get to Ecuador. I must admit, I've been a bit nutrient-deficient here in Spain, due to how much I am trying to save money and "be cheap." But, I've come to the realization that I cannot be cheap when it comes to my health. I don't eat very expensive food anyway, so I made a promise to myself that once I get to Ecuador, I am going to treat my body right, and give it what it needs. I will also keep practicing my daily meditation, and I want to start doing Yoga more as well. Back at Albright, I loved going to Yoga class every Thursday. So I will try to do Yoga for an hour a week.

This post is becoming a rant about me. Too much me. Let's focus on Barcelona.

Right.

Yesterday I hit up the Arc de Triompf, which is a replica of France's arches. I can only imagine that the arches in France are quite a majestic sight, and the Arc de Trimopf in Barcelona is also worth a look. It is located next to a very beautiful park, a nice place to relax after a day of class. I had visited both the Arc and the park last summer, so it felt nice not to pull a tourist move and snap photos. I just walked leisurely through the gardens, said hello to the giant woolly mammoth sculpture, and scaled the stairs of the fountain to get a nice view of the city. Just because I'm creepy, I watched people paddle canoes in the pond that sits in the park. A father and his daughter, two friends spending the day touring Barcelona, a couple taking photos; it was a charming-if a bit tacky-picture of midsummer fun. Around the end of my stint in Barcelona last summer I also visited this park...that time with the closest friend I met in the city, my friend Areum. We still keep in touch, and as she lives in South Korea, she is super excited that I would really love to go there soon. Let's hope teaching works out well for me. Anyway, visiting the park at the conclusion of this stay in Spain seemed a bit fitting. Cheesy, but that's okay. I think I'm entitled to be a bit cheesy, considering I haven't been uber-touristy this summer.

That reminds me of how local I felt today! Walking down the street, I thought I looked pretty sharp: my white dress that I call my "Spanish dress" because it just looks Spanish (I can't explain it), my black blazer that I call my "teaching blazer" because honestly, when would I ever really wear a blazer (I'm not that polished), and a cross-body satchel that doesn't scream I'M A TOURIST (and yes, I used the word satchel because I happen to like that word.) Looking around, I blended in quite nicely with the catalans. A woman even approached me and starting talking to me in Spanish. And that made me feel extremely cool.

And I somehow managed to start and end this post with writing about how nice I feel. Hm, how nice.