The American stamp is still on my forehead from the plane ride over here

The time to reflect, to truly reflect, is hard to come by.

There’s stories to tell and there’s stories to remember.

I have memories to make and lessons to learn.

But where?

And when?

Here and now?

Or then and later?

How did I find myself here?

Serria

Eixample

Barcelona

Cataluyna

Spain

Europe

I’m tourist to say the least and I’m a student to say the most.

I butcher their language.

I make myself look like a fool and I sound like an idiot.

But that's okay.

I’m here to learn

I'm here to grow

I’m here to become the man I’m meant to be

So the stories become my routine

And the thoughts I once thought are the thoughts that I still think

And the place I once read about is the place that I walk about

Where am I now?

I’m overwhelmed.

My brain can’t process all that is happening to me.

There’s so much stimulation from all the sights I’ve seen that I can’t seem to take a breath and let my mind catch up with what I’ve done to it. I traveled across the world this past week. I'm living the life that I had been talking about for such a long time but the question remains: Where am I?

I alternate between being embarrassed by how American I am and being proud of how Cole I am.

We identify ourselves through a variety of ways and one of which is through the category of "belonging" or "not belonging". We tend to associate ourselves with those that are like us which means we tend to reject those that seem most foreign to us. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it is a thing to be aware of. 

Friendliness, patience, and gratitude are universal languages. I’ve relied on those languages a lot more than Spanish in my first week here and that seems to be getting me by just fine.

Where will I be?

One week in.

Quince más ir.

My world spins upside down but the world seems bright side up.