la granja & epiphanies.

This wknd we went to our friend Marc's farm. About 12 of us went up. Our gracia gang, marc, and some of hillary and ross's friends traveling from Madrid. His family is catalan and has this place about an hr and half from barcelona. it was seriously such an awesome wknd. Getting away made me realize why I chose to go abroad. The farmhouse is from the 1600s and has been in his family for 100 or so. It was crazy seeing things that were hundreds of years old, there was so much history to the place. When we got there we go inside to see ours rooms. He has like 7 bedrooms in the place? It's huge. we went outside and the lady that runs the place for his family, maria, had made pasta for us and set a table outside. then after lunch we went up behind his place to his pool. it seriously looked outta pan's labyrinth bc there were all these dragonflies everywhere and its just up in the mountains and absolutely gorgeous. It was so nice just sitting back, sipping wine, talking and not having to worry about things... just relaxing and enjoying ourselves. Time went by so slow and we couldn't believe it was only 9pm when were sitting down to the awesome dinner prepared for us. we toasted marc with cava and had a dance party in his dining room. we found heirlooms...like some kinda horn which we all tried to play at some point in the night. I think I ate enough sausage this wknd to last me the rest of my life. we all woke up this morning (resaca-less, woo) but desparately wanting coffee. we used like the nestle coffee that dissolves and it was very sad. maria came in and was like "[translation] is that what you call coffee? don't drink that. I will make you coffee." She made me cafe con leche and then told me that she thinks she should give the boys lessons on how to drink bc they have no idea. Me and deja concurred.



Honestly, it was so cool seeing things that had stayed in their family for 100s of years. In the US we're constantly updating, hiding the past, renewing...linoleum to tile, tile to marble, station wagon to mercedes. We worry about what brand our watch is and how much time we have til we have to work tmw. Being there we could just live in the moment. Imagining Maria's life seemed like out of a story book. it's so simple but why not live like that. each day just living, enjoying each moment. I don't feel like in the US we really live. This wknd made me realize how proud I am of myself for doing this. Deep down I was sorta terrified. Even the decisions I've made in life haven't been completely my own or unknown. I knew what to expect from college, from moving out, from growing up. I didn't know what to say when I decided to learn new languages, move accross the world and be on my own with people I've never met for an entire year. But I have to say it was probably the best decision I've made thus far in my life and I know it's going to shape what I want to do and who I want to be. Being here has made me realize I want to be one of those people that does what they say they want to do. I don't just want to dream. Life isn't always easy, you can't always have fun or get what you want. I know that. But I do know you can prioritize. You can say... seeing the world is important to me so I will teach english in europe. I will save my money. I realized its possible bc you meet people from the states everyday doing that. you realize that they are the people that actually did what they wanted to do. they were okay with being confused about life, but they didn't settle. I like to write, I like to take pictures, I like to learn. Maybe I can write travel books? haha I don't know. But I'm hoping to figure more things out. Anyways, this wknd was really good. I'm looking forward to more like it. Hillary's friend Vadim had a nice camera and I'm gonna steal some of his pics once he uploads them. until then, hasta luego.