Traveling abroad has been the best thing to happen in my brief life.

The camaraderie of all being in a new place and having no one to fall back on.

The forcing of all of our hands to make new friends.

The excitement of the new mingled with the spark of “you, too?” moments.

 

CS Lewis wrote, “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”

 

 

That’s all Spain was for five months rolling. A cascading series of getting to know this little pod of people better and realizing all the fantastic ways we shared things.
All the fantastic ways we overlapped beyond a desire to be abroad.
All the fantastic ways you can be from wildly different places, but be such similar people, and one wonders if that isn’t why you all ended up in the same place.

One of the girls I ended up being closest to, a girl from New Jersey named Nikki, planned an event for us in early March. Retiro Park olympics, where we day drank in public, had a hodge-podge picnic where there were OREOS (all that is sacred, I hadn’t seen them in three months), and we played games Nikki had researched, planned, and bought the supplies for.

I am still so blown away Nikki pulled this off, and it was so fun.
We were having so much fun a Madrileña (probably old enough to be the youngest girl’s mom) joined us for one game after her and her husband had watched us and giggled for a little bit. Her name was Valentina, and her joining in so enthusiastically is one of the most shining memories I have of Spain.

The subtitle of the event was, “AKA get drunk with friends and do stupid things in the park,” if you can’t read the fine print on the score board Nix made.

I cannot say it enough. I couldn’t shout it loud enough. Everything in my earnest heart would encourage you to go abroad. Meet fellow people out of their comfort zone. Grow, and watch others bloom. Be you with other people realizing, “You too?”

This was a highlight day for that kind of feeling.