It's Still Here Though I'm Not There

So, to prevent any confusion - no, I'm not currently traveling. So why would I update my travel blog? While I'm not physically boarding a plane any time soon, my mind has been doing it all the time. Looking back, I find it hard to believe that at about this time last year I had just learned that I would be going to São Paulo. I had no idea what to expect and even less of an idea how incredible my times would be.
It's great being home, with long-time friends, and in a place where I can understand 100 percent of the stimuli coming my way - no confusion over what, exactly, someone means in conversation or how I should act to look the most 'local'. Nevertheless, life is in many ways much more dull without those situations, without constantly learning and growing to become more adept and aware not only of a culture and place I'm living in but also of myself.
I find that not a day passes where I don't think about being back in Sevilla or São Paulo - particularly São Paulo. People told me that once you go to Brazil, a piece of you remains there. Based on my experience, I'd say it's true. It's tough really to describe in words, because my thoughts of each place are so intertwined with so many experiences I had. Conversations with friends and my host family, learning cultural norms, new foods, smells, and sensations, waking every day to a place that increasingly felt like home. And still does. Just as an example, yesterday I was reading an article online at goal.com, and there was a link to a clip from a news station short on Ronaldo, the Brazilian soccer player. I clicked the clip, and the reporter started talking. Just hearing him speak and the sounds of Portuguese took me back in so many ways. I could close my eyes and be standing there at the counter by the table in the kitchen, trying to understand the newscast on the tiny television as my host mom cooked dinner and I talked with both parents and they bantered about their days. It's as simple as that - a tiny shred of something from my time can bring it all back in an instant. In some ways, I'm far removed from my two other lives in two other places. In other ways, I'll never be removed at all.