Cádiz, Cádiz, oh my Cádiz

Well, I have been a little absent from my blog recently. This is mostly due to me traveling, and now actually having things to occupy my time. Half of me wants to just go ahead and start writing about Holland and all the exciting things that are now starting, but I can't ignore my lovely trip to Cádiz.

Upon my arrival to Europe in June, one of the first things I did was look up tickets to Spain. For those of you who don't know, I studied abroad in Spain from Fall 2010 to Spring 2011. While both semesters were amazing in their own ways, my semester in Cádiz was beyond incredible. I really felt there as though I had transitioned from a student studying abroad to a true resident of Cádiz. My Spanish finally became completely fluent, and I fell in love with the city and the lifestyle. I was also extremely lucky that I lived with a family that had a girl, Alba, that was my age. It took little time for us to become thick as thieves. And Pepa, my host mother, almost adopted me in a way. Leaving them was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, even though I knew I was going to see them again. There were a lot of tears involved, and a beautiful letter from Alba that she had hid in my bag that made me weep to my mother on the phone begging her to let me stay.

SO. Maybe now you understand the magnetic pull Cádiz has on my heart. Well, that... and the beach. In my never-ending quest to find the most ridiculously cheap airline tickets, I finally stumbled upon a rather odd route. Cádiz is in a very inconvenient  awesome location, half hour from Morocco, two hours from Portugal, two hours from Sevilla... it's essentially a little island connected with a manmade bridge. So it's quite hard to get to. But there is a tiiiiny little airport in Jerez, which is about an hour outside of Cádiz. They literally have about 6 routes: to Madrid, to Barcelona, to London Stansted, and lo and behold! To Dusseldorf! Dusseldorf is one of the closest German cities to the Dutch border. So I bought tickets to stay for 10 days, 25 euros there, 35 euros back. Can't beat that! The only pain was that I had to take the train from Leiden to Nijmegen (a city in Southern Holland) and then there was a shuttle bus that took people from Nijmegen to the airport in Dusseldorf. But it was so worth it.

I arrived in Cádiz around 9:30 at night. I literally had enough time to get to the piso where I lived with the family, take a quick shower, stuff my face with some food, before Alba yanked me out the door to this crazy concert on the beach. Anyone heard of Carlos Jean? He's a Spanish DJ, and he's awesome. And if you've never been to a beach concert, you should go.

Your feet don't hurt because of the sand, everybody's jumping all over each other, and its convenient for the boys who all just go pee in the ocean. Classy. And that's the first time I met all the chicas. That is, all of Alba's crazy friends. One of them, Tamara, and I got on like a house on fire. Aaaand before I knew it, we were best friends.

I wish I could tell you guys about every day, but honestly, I don't even remember. My trip to Cádiz was like a dream. Not just because it was amazing, but also because I was so disoriented and completely relaxed, that I lost all sense of time. Days slipped by, we ate when we were hungry, slept when we were tired, hung out on the beach until 8 at night without a care in the world. And the nights were a whirlwind of rainbow dresses, colorful mixed drinks, pulsing reggaeton, and passing out at 9 am. Things that I was stressed about before I came to Cádiz lost their sense of importance and urgency. Those 10 days were all about me living for me, and enjoying the comfort of being with a family. They even invited me back for Christmas! I ate what I wanted, I didn't jog once, and I went to sleep happy every night. There's nothing more you can ask from a vacation. I feel like all I can do now is show you some of the photos. I don't get tired of looking at them because it is just me being completely and utterly content and happy. If any of you ever get a chance to visit Cádiz one day, I think you'll see why.

On a side note, I feel like I have to explain one thing, because of reactions I've been getting from people. Yes, I have lost weight. A significant amount, around 30 pounds. No, I am not anorexic. I did it in a healthy way. I started training for a triathlon this past February, and began regularly running. When school let out in May, I really amped it up and trained for 2 to 3 hours a day. I didn't diet, but I paid more attention to what I put in my body because I needed to fuel my body for the exercise I was doing. Unfortunately, because of an injury I was unable to ultimately compete in the the triathlon. But in the process, I developed a love of running. I really do love it, I don't do it to punish myself. Here in Holland, I have the most beautiful 7K loop that I run past the canals and windmills about 5 times a week. And I do have to admit, I lost about 7 more pounds when I came to Holland, I think mostly because of the stress of moving to a new country. Don't worry, I am aware of my body, and I love to eat! That is all :)

Adios Cádiz! Hasta la próxima vez!