absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Things I learned in the last four days:


1. When buying a dress from CULT, keep the receipt. The strap on mine broke the first time I wore it and I have to take it back.

2. A ceilidh (kay-lee) is basically like contradance in Massachusetts, or general folk dancing. I should have guessed. They call the dance at the beginning of each song. Lots of confusion, lots of fun, lots of sweat.

3. Aerial Assault Courses are SCARY. Similar to a ropes course, kinda. But 100 feet off the ground. Up in the air. You have to wear a harness thing. TERRIFYING. And I was sore afterward.

4. I really should have been more on top of things the last couple of weeks. Oops. Maybe I can make up for it now?

5. It’s 23 degrees CELSIUS in Nerja, Spain right now.

6. Spanish people only believe I speak Spanish for one email’s time. By the time I made it to the second email about hotel reservations, they switched to English. Oops. I thought I could be more convincing than that. I guess not.

7. I have to learn to fit two weeks’ worth of Susannah into one single backpack. I don’t know how this is going to happen. Unless I forget about clean clothes altogether and just decide to take on a smell. It’s what backpackers do, right? I can be hippie like that. No I can’t. That’s a lie.

8. I really crave some fajitas. And ribs. And sweet tea. And decent mashed potatoes. And BLUE BELL ICE CREAM.

9. You can’t use an American card at an ATM (cashpoint/cash machine) to top up your phone. You can only withdraw cash. You need a British card to actually put credit on your phone from a cash machine.

10. I’m going to Paris in a week! And the beach in Spain one week later! If there’s a lack of internet activity on my behalf, that’s the reason.

11. I’m done with all essays and course assessments except for final exams.



I wanted to go there into the cornflower blue of Crayola, the royal, the turquoise, the sky.
-- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold