Until Next Time, Thank You.

So many faces in and out of my life,
some will last some will just be now-and-then.
Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes
I'm afraid it's time for a goodbye again...

The lyrics from Billy Joel's Say Goodbye to Hollywood have been playing on repeat in my head for the past three days. Every great artist has their sentimental "goodbye," song: The Beatles's Hello Goodbye, In My Life, John Denver's Jet Plane, Closing Time by Semisonic, Five For Fighting's 100 Year's, the list is infinite. You see, the thing about these set of lyrics that makes it so spot-on and poignant, is that it is impossible to know for sure which faces will last, and which will just be "now-and-then." It is 12:02 pm on Sunday, January 31, 2016,  I am sitting in the Madrid airport with a broken heart and tear-stained eyes.

Being a seasoned-traveler, I feel like I am supposed to be accustomed to falling in love with a city, and then having to leave it. The happiest place in the world is, in my humble opinion, the arrivals gate at any airport. The arrivals gate stands for the start of an adventure, the most dramatic "hello," the place for beginnings, where "goodbyes" are on no one's mind. But as happy as I was to hear the familiar American accent and be in the arms of the ones I love after landing in Philadelphia, nothing could take away the melancholy feeling I have already started to experience (and will be putting my family through) for the next few days. All of these fragments of memories are flooding my mind, and I'm too terrified of forgetting any of them, so I'll write them down as fast as I can, wipe the tears away from my eyes, and remember that these faces, and these memories, will last.  Here we go:

I've spent two and a half weeks:
speaking and translating
stumbling over words
improving my Spanish
learning Spanish slang and Spanish curse words
meeting awesome people
finding and beholding the most breathtaking views
revisiting places I've already seen
seeing them completely differently
drinking cappuccino and cafe con leche at least once a day
goofing around in madrid
climbing the mountainous streets of Toledo
flirting with Spanish cities...and Spanish boys
looking up to see the unbelievably detailed architecture of Madrid's buildings
daydreaming of dramatic and unrealistic adventures in Spain
squealing and laughing till my abs hurt and considering that my workout for the day
shoving chocolate y churros in my face in my favorite Chocolatería, San Ginés
learning how to do a head stand in a gym class in Alcobendas
belting out lyrics to every song on my phone through the Alhambra with my best friends
learning how to dance Bachata and Reaggaton in Disco Tecas
walking down cobblestone streets
basking in the light that seeps in to the Alhambra
eating incredibly cheap tapas in Granada
picking oranges off trees in Córdoba
taking siestas everyday, because why not?
pretending to be a local (even after they figured out I'm not)
eating jamón y queso sandwiches for every lunch
eating jamón iberico with every meal
finding hidden gems in very touristy cities
leaving my fishbowl, and adapting a new one
becoming a native in a foreign (but familiar) place
seizing every day and every moment
searching through tiendas
wandering through Toledo
succumbing to wanderlust
learning a little history of the country
seeing old friends from years back
taking selfies with random Spaniards on the streets
taking selfies with my best friends
taking selfies with Lex and Spanish police
teaching flamboyant Spanish moms the hoorah
dancing bachata (and hoorah) with Spanish parents all night
taking at least 10 seconds to be present at least once a day
talking to groups of kids about all things America (with a focus on iPhones)
acting like a celebrity in Severa Ochoa
being the JEFA!
taking pictures
putting my phone down to enjoy the moment and the view
taking more pictures
eating, eating, and eating some more because "¡estoy llena!" is not a part of the Spanish vocabulary
becoming best friends with people I've known my whole life
becoming "hermanos" with people I met a few months ago
becoming a member of 19 families

To my hermanos, my families, and my new friends from around the world,
Thank you for taking me in, showing me your world, and giving me the opportunity of a lifetime. Thank you for being my brother in Spain, my sister, my blonde best friend, my Stella Magnolia, Lex, and Klon Krew, my chungas and malotas, and my girls who I explored Córdoba with at night (and to those malotes/canis, we all need them in our lives), my best friend who I'm stealing from my chica, thank you for teaching me how to dance like a Spaniard. You all know who you are among that long list. Os quiero con todo de mi corazón.

To Spain,
You have my heart forever, you are my other home in this world. For better or worse, you and I will always be in a long distance relationship. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and every time we see each other, I know this to be true. Eres mi amor, por vida.

To Mommy and Daddy,
Thank you for giving me this experience, for encouraging me to get up, get out, and explore uncharted waters. Thank you for giving me the world.

Until next time, thank you for endless adventures.

Madrid, outside the Royal Palace

selfies with strangers

a selfie with Lex and a Spanish Police Officer, as mentioned above

km 0 is the exact center of Spain, found in Puerta del Sol in Madrid

my chicas: sophie, Paola, Paula, Claudia, Carmen, Lex, Claudia, Sara and Me <3 comment-3--="" nbsp="">

Jorge and I, a friend I met years ago and got to spend time with again for the past two weeks:)

Eric and I with some Spanish friends, including Omar, another friend from another year who I got to see again this time in Alcobendas!

Stella Magnolia, Lex, and Klon...pinkie promises 

the cutest couple and the best friends an American girl could have

my new best friend, Laura (she's mine, Sara, sorry not sorry)

before the adventure even began, leaving for the airport...it feels like you wait and wait for it to start, and it's over before you blink your eyes

tapas...

...paella tapas...

...and even more tapas

Ivan and I
I consider Ivan like a brother from around the world; he was on the exchange last year and stayed with our family friends, so by default, when he became a part of their family, he became mine too.

the making of churros at San Gins

a vintage book shop that sold the coolest post cards, paintings, polaroids, books, stamps, you get the idea

More Madrid

Chocolate y Churros at San Ginés

goofing around in Plaza Mayor, Madrid

Madrid, and Alcobendas specifically, is very popular for graffiti. This is one of our friends' favorite basketball court, covered wall-to-wall in beautiful graffiti

Charlie's Angles?

Claudia and me, one of my sisters

Marcos and me at the basketball courts

just hanging out

one of my favorite photos ever

Wherever You Go

For those of you who don't know me, I'm a sucker for the mountains. Maybe it has something to do with the feeling of being on top of the world, completely invincible and entirely badass for being able to climb all the way up there in the first place. So my love for Toledo, a small town set in the mountains an hour outside of Madrid, probably has something to do with that. Regardless, Toledo has my heart for its similarities to one of my other homes in this world: Israel. Aside from the fact that Toledo has a remarkably high Jewish population and has the only whole-standing synagogue left in Spain, it is most interestingly known for being the home of Christians and Muslims and Jews, who have all lived in the same community, together, for centuries. Can you imagine?!

Coincidentally, a few days ago I was explaining to some friends about my background in Judaism and why it is important to me. I am asked this fairly often, usually by other Jewish teenagers curious as to how and why I have stayed connected to the religion, and my answer is always the same: First, I don't really consider myself a religious Jew, but rather a cultural Jew. I don't believe in keeping kosher or that not eating for an entire day for Yom Kippur makes up for a year's worth of "sins," let alone that cutting out bread products for a week for Passover honors our ancestors' freedom from Pharaoh in Egypt. Today, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, perhaps I am thinking about this a little more. 

However, I do believe that doing these things connects us with Jews around the world, and here in a small town in Spain, I find this connection even more profound. As a matter of fact, there is a song I have sung since nursery school that goes, "wherever you go, there's always someone Jewish, you're never alone when you say you're a Jew." As a young Jewish teenager, it is important to me to stay connected with my heritage no matter where I am in the world, particularly in Spain, because I stand for the continuity of Judaism. 

My friends and I wandered through Toledo, searched through shops full of Star of David necklaces and Mezuzot, saw the fourteenth-century synagogue, and walked among a community of people who share our same heritage. They found some appreciation for our heritage just like I did, as we stepped over the mosaic stones of "חי," "life", as well as mosaic menorah and other hebrew words implanted in the ground.

Throughout my time here, I have practiced the language, learned the history of the country, embraced the culture, tasted new foods, beheld views, and took on the challenge of pretending to be a local. In the Jewish town of Toledo, a town which reminded me so much of my connection to Judaism, to Israel, and to Spain, I felt such an intense desire to bridge the gap between my Spanish and Jewish heritage. 

Yesterday in Toledo, my girlfriends came running up to me with excitement to show me the Star of David earrings they had just bought at the fourteenth-century synagogue, and how they bought them so that they, too, can show off their pride to be a Jew, wherever they go. In a Catholic country such as Spain, getting to explore my Sephardic roots this weekend was remarkable, but getting to share that with other Jewish teenagers was even more so.

the entire city of Toledo- very small, but so beautiful

Toledo is surrounded by water, almost to act like a mote for the city and protect it from enemies

enjoying the view

happy as can be to watch the city below us, before we even got to experience its importance to us

side streets, tiendas, cafes, and beautiful architecture fills this town

a closer look

having fun in Plaza Zocodover with the class of kids from Severa Ochoa that traveled with us for the day

it looks like a postcard, a green screen, or something completely artificial, but that's Toledo for you...

a group of my friends getting ready to see Toledo together

one of my favorites, shows Toledo and Tagus River

bridging the gap between the city and its neighbor, just like the bridge of my heritage

more of a view...

walking across the bridge to Toledo

Tagus River, protects Toledo like a mote

these small pieces of mosaic are implanted in the cobblestones of the streets all over Toledo- this one says, "Chai," which means "life"

This mosaic shows the Hebrew letters that spell out Sephardic in Spanish; they are all over the city, hidden in plain sight for those who bother to look

what a view

in the deck of the 14th century synagogue in Toledo, I got to share my Sephardic history with a friend, Adan

they call this the "keyhole," as it looks exactly like a keyhole, and it allows you to see the city through it right outside of La Plaza Zocodover

Eric and I, who I have gone to school with since nursery school. Now we have explored Spain, specifically Toledo, together. (cue Jewish mothers k'felling)

Toledo from up top

I've decided to include a few photos from Israel, just to show some similarities between Israel and Toledo...you can see how similar this view of Jerusalem is to the photos above of Toledo

Jerusalem through the boulders

a side street off of Ben Yehuda, same vibe as streets off of Plaza Zocodover in Toledo