Ten reasons why I love my mom

She wants you to practice your Spanish. From the first moment my mama arrived in Spain, she and my host mother have been using me as a google translator, but she's seeing that $40,000 a year tuition hard at work! My host mother loves my ma and has talked to her more in one day than I have in 6 weeks, and it's great practice for me! I don't get any slack--even if the comment is something small, they are curious as to what the other has said.



She wants to go to Barcelona with you. This weekend Kyle, Claire, my mama, and I went to Barcelona for a long weekend. Another fun fact about Spain--weather reporters are wrong here too! We had one slightly rainy day, but the rest of the weekend was mild and beautiful. I was so excited to see the city I've heard so many great things about.



She doesn't mind college life. Not only did we stay in Barcelona, but we had our first hostel experience together! It was clean, but no 5star hotel: first, there was no shower curtain in the bathroom, so even though you stood in the corner of this huge tile room (that also had the sink with no mirror and the toilet) you managed to spray down the entire bathroom so it felt like a cave and you had no idea how it even happened; second, one of our four other rando roommates introduced himself as "the Asian Chocolate."



Park Guell



She appreciates great tours in great cities. Our first day in Barcelona began with an amazing tour by a woman named Sonia who was fluent in English but didn't mind challenging us with her native Spanish slang which was really fun! She was brilliant; she knew everything about the city from what stones were used in the Sagrada Familia to which women were common pick-pocketers on certain streets. Through a mixture of driving and walking, we saw Park Guell (one of the most amazing locations I've ever visited in my life), the outside of the Sagrada Familia, Castell de Montjuïc (great views of the city), and some of Gaudi's famous works, to name a few.

She wants you to try new things. One of the great things about having your mom travel with you is that you can eat more than what's off the Euro menu at a cheap restaurant--And did I take advantage of the good food! This passage is directed especially toward Cory, who has asked me repeatedly to blog about the new foods I've tried in Europe...I'm finally caving: I ate tapas like it was my job this weekend, including a Spanish tortilla, salad with tuna and cod, weird breaded meatballs with white/red sauce, fried mushrooms, and goat cheese and tomato salad. Seems like typical stuff, but add Spanish seasonings and some olive oil and you've got a great meal!

She'll walk to the ends of the earth to get you what you need. Unfortunately, on our second day in Barcelona I started to feel really feverish. By the time we got out of the Picasso Museum (which was a hidden gem in the middle of the Gothic part of town that housed his works throughout his entire life; you could see his transition from works when he was 15 to cubism) I was ready to go home. So that's what my mama did--she put me in a cab so I could go back to the hostel to die for the rest of the day. However, she wasn't done there: she went to the pharmacy to get me medicine, to the store to get me ice cream AND something sour that I was craving, and to get a bottle of water so I could take my pills. Reminder, she doesn't speak any spanish. There is no doubt in my mind that she loves me!

And when you realize you have the flu, she'll lay with you on a twin bed and keep you warm while you sweat out your fever. Gross. Glad I didn't have to ask Asian Chocolate to do it for me.

On top of all that, she'll buy you a book on the Sagrada Familia when can't walk up to the top by yourself. The next morning, Claire and Kyle got up early to do the Sagrada Familia. I had seen the outside on the first day, but even though I was sick there was nothing that was going to keep me from seeing the inside! Our tour guide suggested we go on that day (Monday) because the construction was going on, which is all part of the Sagrada Familia experience (well, it has been for about the last 130 years). At about noon I crawled out of bed and my mama and I cabbed it to the church. So very worth it. It was beautiful on the inside. The ceilings were taller than I would have imagined and the stained glass windows were so bright I felt like I was inside a Christmas ornament from certain angles. After touring the inside, we met up with Kyle and Claire when they were done waiting in line and hiking to the top of the building. My mama bought me a book instead.

She enjoys just being by you. Barcelona was beautiful, and I felt horrible about being sick, but I think everything went well. I'm so glad I was able to travel somewhere so gorgeous with her. Today was our first day back in Alcala, and my mama spent it with me doing crosswords while I counted rhythm/rhyme patterns for my poetry homework.

She tucks you in when you're 20 years old. It's nice having her around.

More later!

Moo