Welcome to the 20s, Deia!!

To everyone at home: I miss you so much!! I just want to apologize for my lack of interaction with you all. It’s been so hard for my mind to straddle the Atlantic Ocean and the Equator. I know that my family is busy doing things without me, and that America does actually function without me there, but its been hard for me to remember exactly what is going on in the states just because every single minute of every day has been jam packed with orientation activities, class registration, figuring out my class schedule, transportation (travel between school and home takes about an hour and forty five minutes a day),  chilling with my home stay family, homework, trying to find an independent study advisor, planning upcoming vacations with my mom and dad who are both coming to visit soon, maintaining a long distance relationship, getting to know the city, and then meeting South Africans. There is so much going on right in front of me and so much I’ve been struggling to remember exactly what is going on at home.

So, I know that I might have forgotten to wish you a Happy Birthday (this is to my best friend, the person whose birthday I’m supposed to remember before anyone’s—see below). Or, I might have forgotten to call you at the prearranged time because of the time difference.  It might have taken me a while for me to respond to your messages because internet is SO unreliable here.  I’m sorry, but from here on out (except for on weekends when I’m travelling), I’ll have access to the internet through school as well as minimal but reliable access to internet at home (I don’t want to use it a lot because I don’t want to have my  home stay parents pay the expensive internet rates). So email me, message me, whatever, I’m here to respond!

And, to my best friend who I didn’t wish a happy birthday, HAPPY 20^th!! I hope it was the most incredible party the Cape has ever seen. This is the second year in a row where I haven’t been there on the day to wish Deia a Happy Birthday. I was en route from Morrocco to Spain last year, but only had internet access during the school day in Spain anyways. Here, I don’t have that excuse. I was just crazy busy and am a bad friend. Here’s hoping next year I’ll be in the states to celebrate it WITH you for the first time in three years. Then you won’t have to log onto my facebook and post on your own wall like the time I was in Ireland on your birthday…

Welcome to the 20s, its going to be filled with so much more of this:

Deia and I, freshman year of high school, NYC.

Deia and I, sophomore year of high school, Paris, France.

Me, Deia, and Ashley, junior year of high school, Montreal, Canada. 

Deia and I, freshmen year of college, San Francisco. 

Deia and I, sophomore year in college, Cadiz, Spain.

Bridget, Deia, and I, sophomore year of college, Philadelphia. 

I LOVE AND MISS YOU SO MUCH DEIA!! In our twenties we will: graduate college, get real jobs, be roomies, travel so much more, and maybe even be in each others weddings? (AHHHH). 

Next stop on our adventure: Barcelona, Spain and the rest of Europe.