Adventures Abroad: The beginning of an end

It's really starting to hit me how fast this whole study abroad is going by...I am sitting here in the Boston Logan Hilton Hotel on an overnight layover traveling to Bonaire from Palma. It seems like just yesterday that I was getting on the plane in Denver to fly to Palma. Despite everything going by so fast, it also seems like I have been in Palma forever, and have known the people at CIEE for a long time. It's crazy how fast we have all gotten close together--in just four weeks, I feel like I have made friends that I will keep in touch with for years to come. And honestly, that's a lot more close than I feel with most of the people I have spent time with in middle and high school.

I don't even know where to begin to reflect on my experience in Palma...I wish I had more time in Boston to just lay low for a while and have a couple days to just collect my thoughts about everything that has happened in the first session. Here are some of the things that I am thinking about right now:

I have learned about (and confirmed) the ways I interact with people and how I make friends
Being Asian-American with people who don't necessarily understand what that means or how I approach things
What it looks like to be Christian when those around you are not
How to truly live life (and not worry about school and homework)
From class, the importance of preserving the environment and how we as humans impact it

Not super deep, I know, but I haven't had any time to flesh these ideas out.. Hopefully in the next few days I will be able to more fully develop these thoughts.

Now for some updates. Yesterday, all of us went to a winery in the morning for a tour and a wine tasting. I am definitely not an alcohol person, much less a wine person, so the tour was somewhat meaningless for me. But it was still pretty cool to see what actually goes on in the process of making wine--it was really amazing to be able to walk down into the cellar where Macia Batle (the winery) ages their wines. The aroma was so strong, and it was pretty obvious they took great pride in their work and the aging of wines. The wine tasting afterwards was pretty interesting as well. There were three steps: look (for color), swirl (for smell), and aerate (for taste). I only had about three sips total but still felt it pretty strongly. Each wine tasted a lot better when aerated in the mouth though--I could taste hints of the grape flavors, which I had never tasted before. I spent most of the afternoon packing and getting ready to leave, before getting together with the entire host family for a true Mallorcan dinner. Since it was my last night, I was really grateful that my host mom decided to actually prepare something for me. At this point it was only the second time she had cooked for me...the food was really amazing though (tortilla, Mallorcan bread, sobrassada, Mallorcan cheese, and assorted vegetables). SO nice as a last gesture. We all got to say our goodbyes, and then I headed off to hang with some friends at Copas Rotas before heading to bed.

(The vineyard of Macia Batle)

(Let's go on a tour!)

(Wine casks for fermentation)

(Bottles on bottles on bottles)

(A collection of all their different wines)

(French oak barrels for aging)

(The cellar can hold upwards of 150,000 bottles!)

(Wine tasting after the tour)

(Mallorcan dinner with the fam!)

(We got everyone together)

(A farewell selfie)

I woke up early this morning to say goodbye to my host mom before she headed off to work, and then finished packing before heading off to Sa Riera to say goodbye to all the CIEE kids and Antonia/Susan/Alba since I did nto get a chance before today to say a true goodbye. I then headed to the airport and began my long sequence of flights to Bonaire. Nothing unusual to report, Lufthansa is pretty good as always! Hopefully the next two flights on United go just as smoothly!