Wow. 2016 was one of the best years of my life, maybe even the best year of my life (so far). Despite the fact that my grandmother died, everything else was beyond amazing. I rang in the new year of 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal with a great group of friends. I fell deeply in love with the city and the people in it. I got three new tattoos, two of which are probably my favorite ones. I got a new piercing that I love. I mended some broken friendships and created new ones. I landed an internship in Lisbon, Portugal for the summer. I lived in Lisbon for 3 months and worked for two. I met some of the most incredible people while there. I turned 21 on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I traveled through the Portuguese countryside and saw some beautiful scenery. My mom, my aunt, and my mom's best friend came to Lisbon to visit me while I lived there and we had so much fun. Traveled through even more of Portugal and I fell even more in love with the country. I witnessed Portugal win the Eurocup and celebrated with all the beautiful people of Lisbon. I moved into a cute little studio near the castle in Lisbon and wrote almost every day and took pictures with my zoom lens. I met even more amazing people while playing Pokemon Go in Lisbon. I moved to Spain by myself and cried my first 2 days there and wondered what the hell I was doing there, wished I could just go home. I'm glad I sucked it up. I found a new place to live with an older woman who rents out her house to international students. I met an amazing lifelong friend, William. We've spent almost every day together since we met. It's weird when we don't see each other or we don't talk for a day. He's my best friend and I'm so so so happy I met him. He's a great guy. I'm going to miss him so much. We went to Granada with the Erasmus Student Network and had so much fun there. It's a beautiful city and La Alhambra is just amazing. Then we traveled to Valencia together and I took him on his first pub crawl (as well as my first, well besides New Year's Eve last year, but that didn't really count, it was more like a hostel crawl). As always, we enjoyed each other's company so much and never got tired of each other. He made a Thanksgiving meal for him and our friends at his apartment. We've spent every Thursday together going to get 2 for 1 burgers at a burger place in town. I didn't see him for the past 2 weeks because we were both traveling, but then we were both in Barcelona at the same time and I was so happy to see him!! He met my mom and we all had dinner together. Now I'm going to have to say goodbye and I might cry, but I know I will see him again, I just don't know when. My family came to Paris for Christmas and I got to fly there from Murcia to spend Christmas with them. I went in the Eiffel Tower, all the way to the top! I ice skated IN the Eiffel Tower with my sister and stepsister, so much fun. We went to the Palace of Versailles which is quite beautiful. The gardens are amazing. My mom and step dad didn't want to go because the ground was muddy, so my sister, step sister, and I went and frolicked around for like 30 minutes. I swear I've never bonded with them more than I did this trip. After Paris, we went to Madrid then took a train to Toledo which is a small city south of Madrid. So cute and beautiful, up in the mountains. From there, we went to Sevilla which wasn't that exciting. But we rented a car during one of our days there and had the best day ever. We drove to Ronda which is a small town in the mountains, then we drove through the mountains down this curvy little road to the Rock of Gibraltar. Coolest experience ever. It's actually not part of Spanish territoty, it belongs to the United Kingdom so we got to get our passports stamped! We went to the top of the rock in a cable car and there's a bunch of monkeys there. I was hanging out with a bunch of monkeys! It was wild and sooooo cool. I got some amazing photos (I really need to update my Flickr). We were all tired on the ride home and extremely hungry, so I played Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and we turned it all the way up and all sang along. I swear I've never had that much fun with all of them in the past 16 years that my mom and stepdad have been together. I also told them the truth that I had picked up smoking cigarettes again, so I could go smoke every now and then and not have to quit cold turkey. I only smoked one or two a day, so now I think I'll be able to quit for real when I get back to the states. After Sevilla, we went to Barcelona and spent New Year's Eve together. It was kind of lame considering they didn't have a countdown haha, but fun nonetheless. Then they left and I already miss them. The month of December was one of my favorites of the year. I've had such an amazing life during 2016. I couldn't have asked for anything more. I met so many great people, I traveled to a bunch of new places, and I spent time with my family. Now it's 2017 and I'm going to graduate college! I can't wait to see what this year brings me. Cheers to 2016.
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Maddie Lang
Dreamer. Adventurer. Wallflower. Lover. Fighter. Kentuckian / Californian. Finding my purpose in the world. Archives
February 2020
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