What I will and won’t miss upon returning to Spain

In a little more than 48 hours I will be finishing the last of my packing and will be going to the airport to return to Madrid, where I’ve been living for the past year. After being back in the US for about 2 and a half weeks, there have been some definite favorite things I’ll miss, and some things I can’t wait to get away from.

I’ll miss my family. I’m glad I was able to see my whole family while I was here. They put together a barbeque for me, and everyone came! Usually we can only get everyone together for Thanksgiving, so it meant a lot to me that everyone made it. We ate delicious food and had a chill, fun time.

I’ll miss my friends. They’re so spread out and busy with work, but I was able to see so many of them. We talked about our lives, we went to my old favorite restaurants and a few new favorites (a great Thai place in Wallingford), we dyed each other’s hair, we laughed and hugged and pigged out on cupcakes. It was really nice being able to see so many people.

I’ll miss the climate in Washington, at least during the summer. This was a slightly hotter than average summer and it hardly rained at all while I’ve been here. It’s been so sunny and wonderful.

I’ll miss being so close to the water. But thankfully I travel to seaside places on a semi-regular basis, so I don’t feel too landlocked in Madrid.

I’ll miss the great variety of international cuisines that can be found here. Especially Thai food. And Japanese food. And Mexican food.

I won’t miss Seattle gridlock or Seattle parking (so expensive!) or Seattle one-way streets. Madrid is the first big city I’ve lived in, with a population 5 times bigger than Seattle. It made me think maybe I could live in a big city upon returning to the US, but after seeing Seattle with new eyes, now I’m not so certain. It would need to be a city with good public transportation. There is no way I’d want to have a car while living in a big city.

I won’t miss American money. All the same color! And so greasy and dirty-feeling! I’m excited to get back to the euro.

I won’t miss having to leave a tip at every restaurant.

I won’t miss expensive groceries.

I won’t miss urban sprawls and cities with no downtown area and streets with so many lanes and so few crosswalks that being a pedestrian is impossible.

Back to Spain! Right now I’m pretty excited about it.