Only the good die young

Before I arrived in Granada, I thought many times, "I am going so far away, where nobody will know me and Connecticut will barely be a thought in my mind."

I was completely wrong. The number of strange connections and coincidences that have happened here is unreal (ex: seeing a girl from my temple walking down Granada's main street).  The most shocking one, however, is not a happy coincidence at all.

During what I thought was many years ago, a young and beautiful woman named Suzette Berrincha lived with my Señora in Granada.  The first night I was here, my Señora told me about her, accompanied by a picture, and sadly mentioned that she had passed away.

I figured this happened years ago. My señora has had students stay with her for years, and for some reason I assumed this was very far in the past. Again, I was wrong.

A week or so ago, Suzy was mentioned again and I grew curious. Who was she? Where was she from? How old was she? I decided to google it, and the answer I found shocked me.

It turns out Suzy passed away just this past November, was in Granada in Spring 2009, and was brutally murdered by her ex boyfriend.  Furthermore, she was from West Hartford, which is only a 15 minute drive from me.  She went to Hall High School, and I know many people from there.  I contacted my friend Adanna who went to Hall, who told me that she knew Suzy from cheerleading, and also passed along the name and e-mail of one of Suzy's close friends.  I just gave Suzy's friend's e-mail address to my Señora, who was extremely excited to talk to someone about her memories of Suzy.

The whole thing is a little spooky for sure, and another girl in my program knew someone who was close to Suzy as well. I can't believe the number of connections, but I am so glad I looked up Suzy's name online and was able to connect my Señora with someone from West Hartford to talk about their memories.

My Señora has a framed picture of Suzy along with the pictures of her family members. It is clear they were close, which makes everything even more heartbreaking. Suzy was absolutely beautiful. I have a feeling that if she were still alive, or if I had been here when she was, we would have been good friends.

I wish her family and her friends she left behind the best, and I am so sorry for their loss.

Granada has connected me with so many different things, and presented so many reasons for me to value my life. For that reason alone, this is the best thing I have ever done.