Dear Family,

I am writing this from my home in East Lansing, while watching snow fall outside my window – and that makes me sad because it means that I am not walking the sunny streets of Barcelona with all of you. There are very few things I wouldn’t do to be back there again, touring the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and then heading to Madrid for some Spanish cider and chocolate con churros.

I was intimated to go to Spain with a group of people I didn’t know. After having only seen your faces four times before we boarded that 10-hour flight together, I was anxious – to say the least – about what the next week was going to hold. But meeting you all, as we sat at our gate and discussed that night’s plans, reassured me that the trip would be one of the best of my life.

We made some pretty odd memories together. From getting drenched in Toledo, to reuniting Marlin and Nemo at Espit Chupitos, to crying while giving toasts at dinner – our adventures in Spain will be some I will never forget.

Spain is an amazing country; the culture is entertaining, the architecture is spectacular, the history is strong. But Spain would not have been the same without all of you.

I want to thank you all for existing. Our little group – Mi Sagrada Familia – made Spain that much more beautiful. Getting to experience everything with you, to share in each excursion and have people to laugh with, made the journey that much better. I am so grateful to have met each one of you, to have gotten to know you personally, and to share with you each of you a piece of myself. It was an honor to be a part of our little family.

Now that we are back home, know that nothing has changed. I still want to hear about your lives, laugh about your failures and your poor decisions, applaud your successes, and videotape those moments that you may (or may not) want to remember years from now. I want our little family to remain close. We need each other now, more than ever, because reality in East Lansing is so much more painful than in Spain.

I raise a glass of cava to each one of you and your amazing personalities. You are wonderful human beings who deserve the whole world. Thank you for making my study abroad that much more impactful. You are some of the best friends a girl could ask for.

I look forward to our next journey – whether it be to Prague, or to speak English in an Italian accent at that couple’s wedding, or to visit our favorite tour guide in The Netherlands. Wherever we go, and whatever we do, I know that the time spent with all of you will be an adventure of a lifetime.

Know that I will think of you every time I hear "God's Plan" come on the radio, or smell garlic, or call sunglasses 'Sunnys.'

With all of my love,

Allia