I had a lot of mixed feelings when I was on that international flight back to America.  I was sad that my incredible summer had ended, but was excited to get back to the United States and my friends and family.  My brother picked me up from the airport in his new car and my parents were really happy to see me.  I got to tell everyone back home about how crazy my summer was, and also bought a new car for myself to drive back to Texas in.  It felt very weird driving a car again.  I hadn't done so for two months.

The last week in Madrid was a great week that I did not want to end.  Morningstar had a "pizza party" so to speak in the big conference room of the office.  Nuria e-mailed us all beforehand and told us we would have the opportunity to address the office with somewhat of a "farewell speech".  I wrote a little one out, while the others just kind of said a little impromptu couple sentences.  I knew the office would appreciate my sense of humor and gratitude, so I thought I would prepare a little something.

 This was summer was hands down the best summer of my life.  I did so many crazy things that I never thought I would do in my life.  It's crazy because after every ridiculous weekend, I would think to myself, that was the best time of my life, but then next week happened!  So, in keeping with this statement, after my amazing weekend in Barcelona and the Monegros music festival, I went to Marbella with my good friend Jordan Frank from the Pittsburgh Intrax group.  Jordan worked at a company named Herzio and arguably had the coolest internship out of all of us.

The week after my amazing trip to San Sebastion, Angad, Maxi, Sammy, Tyler, and I went to Barcelona.  We stayed with the group of Intrax Interns in Barcelona.  They could not have been more accomadating.  Angad and I took the night train both ways which was a very economical way to travel.  I think my round trip was only 71 euros, making it the cheapest travel I took in Spain.  Angad and I arrived in the morning, and after searching for the Barcelona kids' apartment for 45 minutes, Jeff finally met us in the streets and led the way from there, thank god.

 On my last week in Beijing, I took in every last bit of the experience.

I chilled near Houhai, which is a romantic lake by night when bar lights glisten over the water.

I visited the Temple of Heaven.

        It has been just over a week since I arrived home from Barcelona, and I definitely miss it. I must say, I was ready to come home after the eight weeks were up. I missed my family and friends like anyone who was away from home for that long would. I also missed home cooked meals, and sleeping in my own bed. It has been great to be home for a little before I head back to Penn State on Friday. This summer was a great experience, and has helped me learn about not only Marketing, and business functions, but it has also helped me learn more about myself.

 Its been a week since I've returned from internship in Japan and I've just barely acclimated back to my usual lifestyle here in the California. To help re-acclimate myself, I even celebrated my return with a good old fashion cheeseburger and chocolate shake from In n Out. Now that I am back,  I no longer have miso soup for breakfast, commute by trains nor do I have to constantly survive the humid heat of Japan. These were all a part of my daily life while I was interning in Japan.

I'm writing this post from home in Atlanta however in my mind I feel like I'm still in Paris and that I should set my alarm to wake up to go to work the next day. I had gotten so used to everything Parisian that it's going to take some time to adjust...also it seems that I've adjusted a tad too much since I seem to think I'm still typing using a french keyboard.