It's the small things...

When you spend three months of your life in a foreign country, with the same 40 people, it changes you. I miss Europe every single day of my life. I don't think a single day has gone by where something doesn't remind me of my trip, or some form of a memory doesn't start flooding my mind. If given the opportunity, I would leave right now and do it all over again. Granted, I would switch a few people out (namely one) but if that wasn't an option, I'd even take them.

Sure, I miss the scenery, the ancient cities, the foreign voices, and the piles of ruins but what I seem to think about most often is the small things.

This whole blog post was inspired by one tiny little memory... Goleadors. For those of you who are uneducated, I will give you a picture and a description...

Goleadors are the best 10 euro cent money could buy. They were just little gummy sticks but they were harder than gummy worms. I said I would try to explain them, but I lied. You just can't, they must be eaten to get the full extent of just how wonderful they were. I was taking Renaissance and Baroque Art with Dr. Gardner and it was the latest class of the day, right before dinner. I care absolutely nothing about art so I had to find something that would help me make it through this class. That's when goleadors came into my life. I would buy at least 5, more likely 10 of them every day before his class, and I would make them last the entire 80 minutes. Thank you, Goleadors, for being my life saver. I want a goleador and I want it now.

Cola Light- I do not miss Cola Light for the same reason that I miss goleadors. I miss Cola Light because it makes me thankful for Diet Coke. Cola Light is identity theft. It claims to be the same as Diet Coke but it is not. Diet Coke is nectar from the gods and Cola Light is just not. I made do while I was over there, but when we hit London and they had Diet Coke, real Diet Coke, I could've cried with excitement. Though it still didn't taste like Diet coke from the U.S., it was better than the intruder. But I would live without diet coke again if it meant I could go back to Europe (I would just drink Fanta :) )

Meal times- They were wonderful. I remember being curious about what type of pasta we were having that day. Pizza nights were awesome because they put random things that looked like sliced hot dogs on their pizza, and on pizza night we got cola light :) I miss fighting for the regular water because the fizzy water was just gross and tricking people into drinking it. I DON'T miss having ketchup smeared all over my face and arms by Justin and Ryan but even that torture, I would endure again, if it meant I could go back.

Reading- Reading is just way better when you're sitting out on the terrace over looking Italy. Not to mention, at the time I was reading Twilight (magical) and after I read about Volterra, I visited there (P.S. There is no clock tower. Disappointed.) But I just miss sitting out at the tables after class and reading, sometimes for hours.

Citerna- I miss this precious little town so much. I miss the bar that gave us gelato, sneaking out with Kelli and Shane to play on the playground, and Roscoe, the city dog, that did nothing but sleep. It was such a quaint little town, taken right out of a movie set and I miss it. I miss everything about Citerna.

Trains- I prefer trains to cars any day. One night on a train could get you to a different country. America just sucks sometimes. They need a train system. My first overnight train, I was in a car off 5 other people and no beds. I was absolutely miserable. It is not very comfortable trying to sleep, sitting straight up, crammed in a tiny room with six people. On my second free travel, however, I was spoiled. Alyssa meet Sleeping cars, Sleeping cars meet Alyssa. Yea, me and sleeping cars were best friends after that. Sleeping cars have six fold-out beds, three on each wall. It included a blanket and small pillow and sometimes it seemed better than a 5-star hotel. You could even lock yourselves in and make music videos all night, singing songs from Hairspray. It was awesome to be able to fall asleep in Italy and wake up in Paris. Just cool. I liked trains.

Lack of a cell phone- Not much to say about this other than I miss not being attached to my cell phone like it's part of my hand. I love my phone. I do. But I also miss not having a phone. I miss people not knowing every single thing I was doing and where I was at all the time. I know that if I wanted to, I could go without my cell phone here, but it's just different. Here, I feel like I need a cell phone, there I was more worried about having a camera in my hands (that is, until I lost it.)

My Yellow Backpack- That thing became a part of me. That big, huge, bulky, yellow backpack. I would cram a weeks worth of clothes in it and come home wearing half of them because on the way home, souvenirs took up all the room. I was heavy and annoying but I never minded carrying it. I was backpacking through Europe (while staying in hostels along the way) and I just didn't mind.

I just miss it.