The Sunset on My Journey & After Coming Back . . .

The Sunset on My Journey

   On the last night of my fall semester, i did two things:

1. i met up with one of the few locals i met while in Barcelona, Guillem. We wandered back over to the square he took me the last time we had met. (Ironically, "last time" was also the first time we had met, and this would be our last while - for now.) We sat and talked for over an hour, and i really am confident that i have found a friend who i will keep. *More on this story later.*
   (i know, i sound like a Lifetime movie. Well, get your tortilla chips 'cause it's about to go to a whole 'nother level of cheesy here.)

2. i saw the sunset with Chels, Sofie, and Jess.
We sat on a relatively grassy hill next to Barceloneta. It was amazing: right on the beach, over the silhouettes of buildings, a palm tree in front of us. Chels was getting all sentimental and kept repeating how much she would miss us ("so much"). We watched the sunset, which is an experience i don't think i will ever get tired of.

   Chels was getting sentimental again, leaning her bushy blonde head on my shoulder. i laughed out loud, both at Chels and because i realized something. i said, "You know, in literature, this would be highly symbolic." ('Cause that's the kind of dork i am.)
   "Really?" she asked.
   "Yeah, really," i said. "The ending of a day, the end of our semester."
   "Huh." Then, typical Chels, she got distracted and decided to play some music.
    The sun was already behind the buildings and the light was orange from behind them. She put her phone in the grass and got up to dance on the hill in front of the silhouettes of the hotels, including The W, and buildings on the skyline. She sang along to the lyrics, not caring one bit who might see her. i love that about Chels. i decided to get up with her. It was contagious! She just looked like she was having so much fun. i didn't know what to do with my awkward-dancing self to her American pop music, but it didn't matter.
   We danced to some music that Chels played on her phone. Sofie looked on, smiling. When Jess came, she laughed, saying, "Of course you two are dancing."
   Yeah, i was dancing. i danced with Chels like no one could see us - i highly doubt anyone was really watching. i played a Hunter Hayes song for her ("Anything About You") and she liked it. We danced on that semi-grassy hill over the beach as the light and colors (symbolically) faded from the sky. And in that time, i felt great! No other way to put it. i felt on top of the world! i felt lucky. i felt . . . unbelievably and overwhelmingly content. And i didn't want it to go.
   We talked about it on that hill that night. i had a hard time - we all did - wrapping our heads around the fact that we were all in this place together now . . . but when we went home, we would all be separated - flung across the U.S. into different states, into different time zones, onto different coasts. We wouldn't be able to see each other for a late lunch or study together or even be at the same school. It made home not feel so much like home. And it would be hard to see each other again. We didn't talk about that. That was too difficult.


   Now that my trip abroad is over, you might think I'd be done with this blog, that, like the sunset,  the time had passed. But, i want to see what other adventures i can record. i never talked about the excursions i took, and i have tons of stories. i don't want to lose those. So, it might not be as frequent, but i do want to keep going with this. i started it, and i would hate to see it end before i completed it.
   i am planning on going back through my study abroad trip, beginning probably with the Sitges trip since that was only Sept, 20th - about a week into my semester. i never finished that entry, talking about that night. So, that's my new beginning.
   i wrote a short story using some of my experiences while i was abroad, but it was more difficult than i thought it would be. It was hard to revisit, relive. Bittersweet. As you can imagine.
   i thought of using my study abroad experience and turning it into a book, and if i ever get to, it would be helpful to have all this stuff written down somewhere. Jess asked me, "Do you even remember everything?" Well, no. No. i don't. And i won't. But i remember more now than i will in a year, or two years, or more. i need to write down what i do know. And, i'm hoping you'll come along with me. Maybe you can't do the whole trip or maybe you'll stop in here and there, and that's fine. i will enjoy the company when i can get it.

My Sort-of Epilogue:

How We Became "The Gal Pals"

i imagine having a conversation with The Gal Pals going something like this:

Me: How did we become The Gal Pals, again? When was that name brought up?

(Beat)

Sofie: i think Jess mentioned it. . . ?

Jess: Wait, i think it was Josh . . .

Josh: Well, i had said to Jess -

Chels: (just tuning in although she's been sitting there the whole time) Huh? What?


Yeah, . . . that's us.
i am . . . a Gal Pal.

Last Days of WWOOT

WWOOT Day 5: 

   Thursday. So, like i said before, Thursday was technically cancelled. Lea had a callback that day anyhow, so she met us at the restaurant later. You're probably like "What restaurant?! Thursday was cancelled." Well, the daytime plans were cancelled. The nighttime got re-arranged. Nighttime, daytime. Nighttime, daytime. See the difference?
   So, since Thursday was supposed to be Ma's day, she picked the restaurant. She has been wanting to go to Marco's Italian restaurant in Peabody for a while apparently. (She was obsessed with Teresa's Italian restaurant in Middleton for soooo long, so I'm just glad we might have found her a new place to drag my dad to.)
   The service was excellent and the food was delicious! No complaints here. They let us take our time to wait for Lea. We had wine and lamb and veal and mozzarella and tomatoes and pasta and dessert - all scrum-dilly-icious as Dad says.

WWOOT Day 6: Final Day of WWOOT

  Ma warned me ahead of time that the event for this night was for Lea - mostly just for Lea. In translation: you might not like it as much.
   I got defensive about this in my head because i said to myself, What could Lea enjoy that i wouldn't enjoy? AND Ma and Dad have to sit through whatever it is, too.  . . .  A play? A musical? I doubted both - and besides, i would enjoy them. Basically, i had no idea what we were doing.

   We went to a fancy-ish restaurant at the Copley Plaza Hotel, the Long Oak Bar. Everything was "eh" in the sense that if you're at the Copley and your food costs more than some of my scholarships are worth, it better be dang fantastic. And it was just ok. The service was nothing compared to Abe and Louie's or even Marco's.

   We had to walk to our next place. On the way, we walked through part of - i think - Northeastern's campus and we saw what i called "a castle." It might have actually been a cathedral / church, but it looked like a castle with the high central turret and surrounding stone walls.
   After the castle, everyone on the sidewalk was dressed pretty fancily, and we crossed the street to stand in front of a big marquis that said The Boston Pops. Oh God, i thought, What the heck are we doing here? 
    Now i understood why this was more a thing for Lea. i saw a big sign with the concerts they would perform this season, including concerts with famous singers. Looking back, i feel kinda dumb  because i hadn't remembered that The Pops do concerts with people - you know, people who sing.
   The first half of the show, i almost fell asleep. It was composed (pun intended) of a cello piece played by an Algerian sophomore from Berkley (i think) and a Star Wars tribute to John Williams, which was recorded. When i told Dad, he sarcastically asked, "Why?" during intermission.
   i said, "Gee, i don't know, you just fed me and put me in a warm, dimly-lit room and played classical music to me. Yeah, i have no idea . . ."
   He laughed.
   For the second half of the show, the amazingly-talented Broadway star Sutton Foster took the stage with the Pops, singing "Singing in the Rain," "I Get a Kick out of You," "Anything Goes," and "Gimme, Gimme," among other tunes. It was outstanding! The music, por supuesto, was clear and clean and - i can only explain it like this: it was as though the vibrations of the music moved through you - even sitting in the balcony, we could feel the music tingling through our muscles. Foster's singing was breath-taking - literally. I found myself forgetting to breathe whenever she sang a particularly long belt or sweeping high note.

   On the walk back to the car, we got ice cream at Cold Stone. It was the - well,  the cherry on top!

i am . . . now a Pops fan. :)
 

WWOOT for the Win!

WWOOT Day 3: 

   Tuesday was boring during the day, but that night's excursion made up for it! In the daytime, we slept in a bit and hung at home because i had a headache and didn't feel well. That morning, Mom had made us all a delicious family breakfast of eggs benedict! So good! So good! So good!
   Ma gave us all presents - Red Sox gear - to tell us where we were going that night. i was so excited! It was my first Sox game and my first pro baseball game. How i managed to play baseball and softball all my life and NOT make it to a game in 21 years is beyond me.
   The Sox beat the Colorado Rockies in an 8 - 3 game! AND we saw a home run that game. We were directly behind home plate and had a great view of the field.
   Like a true Bostonian would say, it was WICKED AWESOME!

WWOOT Day 4:

   On Wednesday of our Fun Week, we got pedicures - ALL of us!
   That night, we went out to a Spanish restaurant in Boston. We heard flamenco music while eating tapas and drinking cavas. It seemed everything was expensive for the quality and amount of food that we received. The paella was not very flavorful and at a high cost ($29 - $31), and while the tapas tasted good, there wasn't much to them. The tortilla espanola was creamy, but at $12 a slice, i think it was a bit outrageously priced. i was, however, excited to go to a tapas restaurant, and Mom gave me full reign to order for all of us whatever i thought was best!

   After dinner, we walked over to the SpeakEasy Theater for a performance that took us back to the late 50's and early 60's. With melodic harmonies and a full use of the space with crisp movement (without breaking the fourth wall), the musical Dogfight came to life in front of us. It was "nothing short of wonderful"! It made us laugh, cry, sometimes both at the same time! (Okay, i am a sap, and i cry at a lot of musicals, plays, movies - just stories in general. So, as you can imagine, i cried a good amount during this show.) As a lover of the soundtrack before setting foot in the theater, i really appreciated the voices of the guys in the show, especially Eddie and their vocal performances of the difficult numbers. The harmonies were seamless and smooth, and i felt like i could listen to them all day long.

   Unfortunately, we all felt the tension between Dad and Ma and Dad and Lea that night. Lea wasn't talking because she got yelled at by Dad on the way there because Ma got lost thanks to our GPS, Tim Tim. So, Ma was mad at Tim Tim and herself for getting us into Boston like an hour later than we planned, Dad was mad at Ma for getting lost and for not telling him where we were going because gosh forbid he has to follow someone else blindly (he knows Boston and the roadways better than Ma); Dad and Lea both get carsick when there is a lot of traffic, so they were both probably nauseous; i can't deal with throwing up so i was reading my book in the back trying not to worry about them getting sick; and Dad got mad at Lea when she tried to set up Ma's phone GPS (Google Maps for iPhones or something) instead of Tim Tim.
   Fun family car ride.
   The rest of the night, Lea didn't talk, Ma was aggravated that Lea didn't have more of a reaction to Dogfight, and Dad was so tight he looked like he might turn to stone. I was just stuck in the middle.

   Unsurprisingly, Ma told us at the end of the night that she was cancelling the next day of WWOOT. i think we all breathed a sigh of relief (quietly, of course, so Ma wouldn't know). She didn't think it was the best idea to have us all drive 2 hours somewhere starting at 8 a.m. the next morning. Shocker.
i was . . . relieved.