We’re not in Kansas Anymore… Finding Home Away from Home in Granada

Jordan Mathews is a student at University of Colorado, Boulder and an ISA Featured Blogger. Jordan is currently studying abroad with ISA in Granada, Spain.

There will be moments of panic, moments of anxiety, moments of doubt… Accompanied by moments of ecstasy, discovery and epiphany. You will find triumph in successfully going to the bank without the assistance of others and will confront frustration in the petty obstacles that greet your attempt at ordering at a bar.  (Now is the time to put your sense of humor in an easily accessible pocket.)

However, within my first 3 weeks of being in Granada, I have been reaffirmed everyday that I am exactly where I should be. Granada has stories to share with me and some people I need to meet, as well as a few lessons it would like to teach me. By remembering that Granada is my home now, even if it is for only 5 months, makes those overwhelming, I-cant-understand-anything, I-am-never-going-to-learn-Spanish, #guiriforlife  (I will explain this term more later) moments a little less painful and a little bit more meaningful. From the wise words of Miranda July remember where ever you may be that “No one belongs here more than you.”  (A great book if you’re looking for one!)

“Home” 

“It is beautiful here. But I know it isn’t where I am meant to stay. The earth has detached her roots, letting me out of her loving grasp, encouraging me to leave with the wind’s last breathy gasp.

 My feet are itchy and my skin is feeling tight. The feeling of home is distant, like a flicker in someone else’s night. So my soul reminds me, as it puts the hair behind my ear- “Your heart will beat steady when where you should be is near”.

 I can feel the stars beckon me to a place Ive yet to discover; the universe has left a fire burning like an anticipating mother. The smell of smoke is familiar- the dance of her flames is so nice, convincing me with her leaps and bounds that I have not yet found what is living beneath the ice.

 It is the unsettling feeling that has yet to leave me- the anxiety, the excitement, the unknown- that whispers to me softly, “Keep going, you’re close; keep going, my dear.” So the stars keep ensuring me, “It is okay” to let go of all my fears. And so Ill let them lead me to somewhere that is unfamiliar, to a place that will wipe away every single one of these self-created tears…

 And though it seems this place is nothing more than a welcoming fog or a beautiful mystery, I know so certainly that this mystery is where home will always be for me.”

xoxo,

Jordan