At this point, Salamanca really does feel like home to me. Well, not “home home,” because nothing can replace my beloved state of Virginia filled with comfort foods and family a phone call away. Nonetheless, Salamanca is like home because each time I leave for a weekend trip, I secretly look forward to returning to the familiarity in Salamanca. Do not get me wrong, I love traveling and am always content while I am doing so, but there is just something so wonderful and peaceful about Salamanca. 

When I try to put a finger on it, I realize that what makes me miss Salamanca (even when I am only a few cities away) is a combination of a lot of things. Just like I miss my big bed and worn-in pillow back in Virginia, I miss my bed and pillow in Salamanca when I am away, too. I miss the light purple walls, the sound of pigeons on the balcony, and sometimes I even long for the noisy “bruja” upstairs who wakes me up in the mornings with her heavy feet.

I miss my host mom’s cooking the most when I am gone. If I have not mentioned it yet, please know that Basi is an amazing cook–like she could probably outcook Gordon Ramsey if she were given the chance. When I am traveling, I tend not to eat as much as I do at Basi’s (mostly to save money), and I find myself daydreaming of her homemade soups and endless supply of fresh fruit. Knowing that I am traveling to Zurich, Switzerland this weekend and that I tend to eat a lot, she keeps loving asking me, “What are you going to eat in Switzerland? How are you going to survive?” Hmm… that is a good question. I suppose I will be eating lots of Swiss cheese.

Salamanca is also relatively small and is surely smaller than most of  the cities I have been to so far. Being in big cities can sometimes be a little overwhelming, and I find myself itching to get back to Salamanca, whose size I like to call “do-able.” I have just become so comfortable with my new city and its streets that I do miss its easy familiarity.

Thinking about the things I miss now as I sit in my favorite park in all of Salamanca, the Parque de Los Jesuitas, I realize I miss Salamanca a lot even though I am still here! I do only have about two and a half months left in Spain though, which it so bittersweet. It makes me sad to think I have to leave my purple room, my sweet host mom, and the quaint streets of Salamanca. I will have called this place home for four months and then, what? I may never return to the place I called home? I do feel grateful, however, for each day, minute, second I have left here.

Missing Salamanca will be a sweet memory knowing that I was given such an unique opportunity to live and study here. When my time here in Spain is all said and done, I look forward to being able to say that I lived in Salamanca, Spain. But not only lived… I flourished!