Agradece los pequeños detalles – Be grateful for the little things

Being in my third year at Stanford, a large proportion of my friends and acquaintances have studied, are studying, or will be studying abroad. My Facebook feed is continually flooded by statuses in foreign languages, funny anecdotes regarding culture shock and foreigners, and photos of beautiful landscapes and monuments. A little part of me has traveled through Paris, Florence, Barcelona, London, Marrakesh, Prague, Berlin, Lisbon, Beijing, and all over Australia vicariously through these friends.

Aside from getting the opportunity to explore a beautiful city and take classes through our own university program, another hidden bonus of studying abroad is having an entire new continent at our fingertips. Our program director has suggested that we resist the temptation to travel through Europe every weekend, encouraging us instead to explore the depths of Madrid and the beautiful country which is Spain. Yet, the relative ease with which we could travel to, say, Paris or London can be overwhelming. For example, my friends and I found plane tickets to London for 13 euros a piece --> that's about 17 American dollars.


Seventeen dollars?! I have spent more that that on a single meal in the US! But, a trip does not only consist of a plane ticket, and there is plenty of history and culture in Spain to fill every moment of the next 6 months. So as much as I would LOVE to travel to the Canary Islands, Lisbon, Paris, and London with my friends, I think my itinerary will be much more focused. In just under two weeks I will be traveling to Rome, Italy. We will only be there for 3 full days, but I am incredibly excited to visit a beautiful city, eat delicious Italian food, and drink some authentic Italian wine ;) And don't worry, I will certainly post about that trip as well!

The meticulous planner inside me has restrained me from buying plane tickets to every major city on the European continent, though it was a struggle to pass up the 13 euro London tickets!. It's easy to get caught up in the splendor of traveling, of living in Europe without adulthood responsibilities and having what seems like every opportunity open to us. I had a wonderful conversation with my host mother last week about Stanford, goals for life after graduation, and simply life in general. She reminded me that I am incredibly privileged to be here, as are all the members of the Stanford study abroad program, and that conversation set off a cascade of appreciation that I haven't been able to shake. Even though I am hundreds of miles away from my family and some of my closest friends, I have a million and one things to be grateful for each day.

From the beautiful sunshine that Madrid has seen over the past few days...

 to the countless laughs shared with friends...

From curling up with coffee and a fantastic book to the amazing cheese-stuffed dates my host mother keeps feeding me- happiness is already within reach <3