I Miss Europe.

I miss Spain.

I miss living with a Spanish family.

I miss Llucia.

I miss Consuela.

I miss Lica {the tiny dog}.

I miss the heat.

I miss not being allowed to put my hair in a ponytail when wet.

I miss not being allowed to go barefoot.

I miss eating Spanish pizza.

I miss siesta.

I miss Olexiy, the French boy who lived with us.

I miss not having a towel.

I miss sleeping on top of the covers.

I miss hearing Spanish everywhere.

I miss being able to speak English without anyone else understanding.

I miss Spanish thunderstorms.

I miss Spanish malls.

I miss Llucia's wonderful mother, Rosa.

I miss going to the park.

I miss vendors with their stuff on a sheet so they could take it and run in a moment.

I miss streets without lines.

I miss people who drive too fast and turn too quickly.

I miss weird intersections.

~~~~~~~~~~

I miss the other People to People people.

I miss Alicia putting up with me and making me feel like myself.

I miss hating John.

I miss Nalin looking beautiful all the time.

I miss Briar trying to beat people up for me.

I miss avoiding Michael.

I miss being disgusted by Matt and Tori.

I miss holding back Jackie's temper.

I miss Haley keeping me grounded.

I miss making fun of "the Barbies."

I miss Geno making me laugh.

I miss Emily being emo and cynical.

I miss Geno making Larry Boy faces.

I miss Torin cussing up a storm and our weird, close-distant relationship.

I miss Geno wanting to hold my Polly doll.

I miss Pedro's gelled hair and constant eating.

I miss Geno asking me to please wear my lion shirt.

I miss Kyle and Alexsis being adorable together.

I miss Adam's shoulder massages.

I miss David being a MASSIVE teddy bear.

I miss Leron's hilariousness and singing southern gospel on the bus.

I miss Alyssa being annoying.

I miss hating how Kelly talks out of the corner of her mouth.

I miss catching phrases from peoples' guidebooks.

I miss Drew being disorganized.

I miss Cindy being reliable.

I miss hating the way John pronounced "nutella" as "new-tella."

I miss Emma walking around being homesick.

I miss Sabine saying, "now, when we get back to dah HOE-tell..."

I miss Sabine's massive green eyes.

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I miss France.

I miss pointy noses.

I miss being corrected when I speak.

I miss crystal and fancy smells.

I miss putting my bread on the table.

I miss nasty seltzer water.

I miss walking.

I miss climbing mountains.

I miss not knowing what to wear.

I miss the random weather.

I miss trying new food.

I miss feeling stressed over purchases.

I miss venders with delicious accents.

I miss trees growing from rocks.

I miss Via de Amore.

I miss blue, blue water.

I miss cheap expensive clothes.

I miss blue and white stripes.

~~~~~~~~~~

I miss Italy.

I miss green.

I miss exploring.

I miss music coming from tunnels.

I miss real pizza.

I miss foreign guys that scare me and intrigue me at the same time.

I miss tan, huge-eyed toddlers.

I miss Brother Alesandro.

I miss Assisi.

I miss the tiny cathedral inside a cathedral.

I miss Brother Alesandro's beautiful explanation of prayer.

I miss castles.

I miss parks and playgrounds.

I miss that tiny little phone booth.

I miss the leaning tower.

I miss the colosseum.

I miss gelato.

I miss Pedro stopping to get a panini at every restaurant.

I miss closing our curtains because boys were staring in.

I miss laughing from our balcony at boys calling "Baywatch!"

I miss people playing soccer in the street.

I miss pasta.

I miss Italian cola.

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I miss the trip.

I miss getting ready and packing in 45 minutes exactly.

I miss eating breakfast with 39 other people.

I miss never being alone.

I miss hearing someone else breathing as I go to sleep.

I miss using each others' bathrooms when Alicia or I had a bathroom-hog roommate.

I miss Haley doing Alicia's hair in cornrows.

And dreadlocks.

And French braids in Italy.

I miss putting all our luggage in the elevators and sending it up alone.

I miss taking the stairs when the Barbies' luggage took too long.

I miss never wearing makeup.

I miss riding on the bus for hours.

I miss Momma's little notes.

I miss journaling until my hand seizes up.

I miss looking for presents.

I miss Haley calming me down.

I miss Alicia laughing whenever I was in a pissy mood.

I miss Jackie being my homesick buddy.

I miss Geno making me laugh, but never laughing at himself.

I miss Briar being fun, then obnoxious and me telling him so.

I miss falling asleep to the sounds of chaos down the hall.

I miss military time.

~~~~~~~~

I haven't been sick for Europe at all until just last night when all this came crashing down on me. Gosh, I miss it. I had an amazing time and I don't regret anything and I know I really seized every day.

But gosh, I miss it.

~Stephanie