Weekly reflection 3

The final week! At the beginning of the week, I felt a bit tired and stressed from dealing with our second unfortunately accident that through another twist our way. We were tested many times throughout the weekend which caused a tad bit of insecurity. Once we got everything straightened out, we once again were determined to finish the last week strong. Once we got back on route, we grinded. The problems from our past two weeks only gave us more experience in the long run. Everyday, we were efficient and consistent in our cycling and our lifestyle. We were great at setting up and packing the tent, searching for last minute cheap hostels, and communicating with locals when we needed a helping hand. There were times where we reached our destination and went above and beyond to set ourselves up for the next day or fit into our local area. We were honestly pros. We knew what we were doing and it showed. Times where I would imagine myself being stressed where dealt with easily in the last week because of our established comfort with Spanish people and our overall project of living sustainably. The meals we prepared ourselves also improved. We went from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, to jamon and cheese sandwiches, up to rice burritos cooked on our stove. Although we were experienced by our third week, it doesn’t mean that everything was perfect. We still did encounter some twists in the road as we expected we would although we were far quicker in finding a solution that would keep us moving forward with our project. A good example of our advanced thinking was when Augie’s screws fell of his back rack and he could no longer bike with his bags. We immediately split up and solved this problem as efficiently as possible. Augie left to hunt down some new screws while I lugged our bags to the nearest town that could hold them. In no time, Augie was back with new screws and all our bags were safe. We still arrived to our intended destination at a reasonable hour and stayed healthy and hydrated. Our talents of improvising in unexpected conflict were visible to both of us which lowered my stress level for the future. The last day on Mallorca, before we flew our, I anticipated a complicated day. There were many strings that could get mixed up but we went into the day with courage. Of course, strings did get mixed up but we yet again straightened them and survived. Flying away from the beautiful country of Spain is bittersweet. This project has taught me very much about myself and helped me develop confidence with being in an new place with new faces everyday. I enjoyed our trash cleanups as well. Although we did some dirty work, it felt good in the long run. I had a lot of fun and had some wild experiences the past few weeks! I will miss this project.