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Short version: unable to go to a doctor until we returned to Madrid, I walked on a stress fracture in my foot (which I got who knows how) in Lisbon for 3 days resulting in me being unable to walk on my left foot without it feeling like someone was stabbing it. Three doctors and a bunch of euros later I was on crutches.

It has been an intense week. What is more awkward than being the foreign student? You guessed it! Being the foreign students on crutches. As if crutching around our giant campus, a barely hadicap accessible metro system (elevators are only on certain platforms), and our group trip to Andalusia wasn't enough, Spain can't even have normal crutches! They are not sturdy because they don't square off under your shoulders. Instead they have these half circles of plastic that go under your elbow and knock into you, slowly creating bruises on your forearms. Awesome.

I thought life in Spanish was hard before? Try crutching a three hour walking tour of La Alhambra with plenty of stairs! But that wasn't the end of my lesson. When I was sitting on the bus at school on Tuesday (one of only 2 times someone offered me a seat on the metro or bus) three blind students got on the bus. Watching them get on, find their tickets, find the slot to put in their tickets, and grope through the crowded bus to find a seat, all while helping each other was incredible.

No matter what your situation you are always lucky in someone's eyes.