"Geo-Muggle" No More

After studying Spanish idioms with Aly all morning, Maria, Anna and I ventured up to the park that overlooks all of Granada, climbing shoes in our purses, to traverse on some cobblestone walls I had scoped out earlier, but to our great disappointment, the police cut our session short. Deciding to make the best of things, we hiked up further, strolled around the park, and admired the view while having a really good conversation about being caught between two worlds while studying abroad. I think many people study abroad to escape the life they are living, but for the rest of us, we have two lives that we are holding close to our hearts, which creates polarized emotions. I can barely describe the pain of being outrageously excited and alive while at the same time heart-breakingly sad. Missing and loving are more closely related than I thought; one can’t miss something without loving it, and missing something, I believe, makes one love more. Maria helped realize that I am actually really lucky to have people in my life that I miss so much, and that the feeling of missing someone is something to be treasured. For one, it allows me to realize how much I value the things in my life that I usually take for granted. Maria explained that she is trying to savor every unique experience about Spain, for example, since she is from Texas, she tries to appreciate the feeling of being so cold she can barely feel her fingertips. Although uncomfortable, I guess that the feeling of intensely missing people is to be savored as just another unique part of my journey. I know that I have only begun to discover the depths of the ache of missing people, but I am pretty sure that it only strengthens me and the relationships I treasure.
On our way down from the park we ran into Matt, interrupting the secret quest he was on. After cajoling him to let us in on the secret we went from being “geo-muggles” to “geo-cachers” as we ran around the Alhambra like pirates. You too will cease to be a geo-muggle as you read on, for it is the knowledge of geo-caching that transforms you. I think you could call Geo-caching a sport; it is a subculture of people that hide “geo-caches”, containers with notepads and knick-knacks in them, all over the world, and then log the coordinates or clues for the lute on a website. If you are “geo-cacher”, you try locate and write your name in as many of the notepads as you can, and then log your accomplishments on the website. The first and most important rule of the game is to never let a geo-muggle see you find or hide the geo-cash. Also, if you so desire, you can take one of the knick-knacks, but you must replace it with one of your own. After following the clues, and furtively running around the castle-ruins, we found our booty. Needless to say, Anna and I are officially hooked. I warn you, don’t laugh until you have tried it!