Thursday, October 30, 2014

These Little Lists of Happiness

I was trying to keep these posts a weekly thing but the adventures and I've been working on a presentation I'll be giving next week (let you know how that goes!) Now I've doubled my overjoy in one post to make up for the days that I've been away! So if you're in the "Let's not smile" mood well then I encourage you to read on because this will get very happy and rainbow-like in a few moments.

Please ignore my baby hands and enjoy the Pepper looking magnificent.


I'm big into lists, which doesn't make much sense considering how unorganized and scatter-brained I am. But the fun lists the, "Places to Go"&"Adventures to take" -lists, those are my favorites. Since I have around 30 hours of class a week about 15% is spent on listening and the other 15.5 hours (yes that is about all the math I've done since June) is spent on day dreaming, drawing and creating these little lists of mine. I'm sorry to all of my hardworking Spanish friends that study there butts off while I'm being a no work ethic little FES (Foreign Exchange Student, come on do you watch That 70's Show?) You all inspire me, and I'm sure in a year I'll start studying again, but for now I'm indulging in the fruits of fun.


Who says Spain doesn't do Halloween?
So why do I love these lists? Quite simply they let me dream which gets me to the ultimate goal, making me smile. Without further ado, my little lists of happiness.

The Bucket List

The most cliché yet most important of lists, The Bucket List outlines our most ambiguous dreams while also leaving room for the little adventures we take along the way.

I have left space for the grander ideas yet to come.

"They say I'm a dreamer" because how many people plan, as in have already looked up the amount and cost to fill a pool with Jell-o (about 300 boxes at 50cents each, a total of $1,500 for an experience of a life time. I'm really doing more math today than I have in months!) My Bucketlist encompasses the short-term long-term wild ideas that cross my brainwaves. Some with more effort, more time or more money required but ultimately all the same. You can't put a price on happiness... but you can describe it.

500 Reasons to Smile

Though they aren't on my list, Pamplona tomatoes the size of my head definitely make me smile.

If you're tired of my over-positivity well then I doubt you're reading this post anyway, but if you like to smile too then please join me on this happy smiley journey of happy smiley things. The other day my host mom and I were having a conversation about happiness and how it's choice and lifestyle but sometimes something more. She said asked me a question that really made me think. "Algunos nacen feliz. Como tu. Desde que eras un bebé has sido tan feliz como asi no?" >> Some people are born happy. Like you. Since you were a baby you've been this happy right?

So this is what I do in class. I'm hoping my messy handwriting keeps you from reading them all... some are strange I guess :)

Though I don't know my 9 month old self I have a feeling she was a happy one. (Except for my Terrible Two's which I made truly terrible, or so I've been told -"I WANT BARNEY!!!"). Going through this list I realized that I've spent the majority of my life smiling. I thought of all the moments when I felt the unexplainable warmth that builds inside, and it lights up your eyes, your smile, your life! Don't leave me hanging people! It would be a sad, sad day for me if I found out that none of you have felt it too.

Well we made it! I felt great pride in filling this empty space with happiness.

This list clearly transfers from the things that can make anyone happy, to the more personal (and/or strange) things that make me particularly happy. So I'm opening up to you all now, please don't laugh. Or better yet laugh, laugh a lot because then I'll have accomplished my goal, #501 making my readers happy :)

I got a care package this week that also made me smile!

Spanish Adventure 2014-2015

This is yes another bucket list but of a specific category, my epic journey as a FES (refer to the second paragraph if you've skipped ahead. Do people actually do that? :/ ) I can't wait to feel the prideful joy of checking them all off!

After only a month and a half I have been able to check off a lot of these!
Check off #8 I'm still alive!

Making these lists and making this post created a lot of smiling-at-inanimate-object moments for me and so I thank you for that readers. You give me things worth smiling for :)


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