I have been in Europe for work since last Wednesday. It has been a very productive trip from a work standpoint, making some extremely good progress on a project I'm working on. I can say that I'm thrilled with my time here. However, this is the longest time I've been away from C, and the furthest I've been away from him distance-wise as well. With expensive or inconsistent internet access during my travels, and time differences ranging from 5-7 hours, it has been difficult at times to get ahold of each other. Since it looks like I'll probably need to come back at least once or twice more for this project, I felt it necessary to write down some lessons learned/observations made:
1. Schedule specific times to call your SO and stick with them.
2. Skype is amazing (you know, if you have internet access)
3. Having free time in Europe can be difficult without close friends or family to join you. It turns out my collegues don't all have the same passion for travel and sight seeing that I do.
4. When traveling to Spain, bring a few light snacks. They eat really late here (lunch and dinner). A girl's gotta eat.
5. Learn to say no to food or leave food on the plate. I'm pretty sure I've gained at least 5 pounds in the past 10 days. (This might seem like it contradicts number 4, but trust me, it doesn't)
6. Try to have more than 5 days notice so you can research the area, what to see, where to go, how to get around, etc. (Yes, my flight wasa booked on Friday afternoon and I left the following Wednesday. Life can be hectic. I think it's part of being an adult)
7. Don't give up meat before going to Spain. They eat a lot of meat here.
8. Don't plan on eating seafood in Spain in leue of meat. I'm sure it tastes good to people who like seafood, but it just looks scary and gross to me. I don't know what cuttlefish is, but they eat a lot of it.
9. Dessert does not need to be eaten with every meal and it's almost never as good as it looks (unless it's from a specific Italian Restaurant in the New Forest of the UK which will be talked about at a later date, then all bets are off).
10. Be thankful for C and remind him how much I love him. He has been so supportive and great through this last-minute whirlwind trip.
Number 10 should really be at the top of the list, but it seemed like a good way to sum up the post.
I'm sure there are more lessons I've learned during this trip, but have obviously forgotten to remember them. I'm looking forward to future trips and making more progress on our project, but more than anything I'm looking forward to going home, seeing my husband, and sleeping in my own bed. Sunday night cannot get here soon enough.
*On a side note, I apologize for any spelling errors in this post. However, blogger sees that I'm in Spain and apparently believes this should be written in Spanish because it marks almost every single word as misspelled. Technology fail.
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