May | 2013 | My Junior Year Abroad

As I’m sitting here with 62 math problems for homework, it suddenly hit me that I haven’t written for a little while and right now would be a perfect time to write an update.

May has been the slowest fastest month of my life, because of the anticipation of arriving home and the feeling of wanting to stay.

Lately, all my conversations have been about all the memories, and all the arrangements being made for people to come to the U.S. and me to return to Spain. If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me how I feel about going home, I could afford to stay.

This past Thursday and Friday, I took a test to prove the Spanish skills I have formed over the past nine months. It went really well, and I’ll know my score in a couple of weeks, and eventually, I’ll get a certificate of some sort that represents the level of Spanish I have.

Yesterday, we threw a surprise party for a family friend. The party was mostly adults, but I found myself having fun. Just like all Spanish parties, there was a lot of dancing, alcohol, and dancing.

There’s only 4 weeks left of school, which only means one thing: finals. That basically explains itself.

On the bright side, I’m in the process of perfecting things in the language perspective. This does mean I’m bilingual, or that I can speak perfectly, it just means I’m happy with what I’ve learned, and all the verb forms are starting to connect and make sense when I talk. Something I never thought possible.

A true miracle.

Barcelona is where I spent this past 5 day weekend.

I went with my sub tutor from school, her husband, and two kids. We left on Wednesday, and as I squished into the middle seat of the small car between the two car seats of a four and a six year old, I just reminded myself of the destination. We stopped in a small village on the way, as well as Zaragoza, and although it elongated the trip by 3 hours, it was worth it.

Once we got there around 9:30, I was greeted by the family, who were all incredibly nice. It will never seize to amaze me how no matter where I go, or who I am with, people are there with open arms, welcoming me into there home, or life. It’s great.

The first full day, I went with the tutor and her two kids around the city and out to the beach, getting a brief tour, and seeing all the typical touristy things of the city.

The next day I went to the Sagrada Familia, which is a cathedral that is still in the making. The architect had started building the cathedral when he died, and left only a blue print behind. Because the type of architecture is so complicated, the construction team has trouble on a daily basis constructing the figure based off of the drawing left behind. For this reason, it’s still not finish, after at least 100 years of building.

The last full day there, which was Saturday, I went into the city on bike with a friend of the family’s. They had a communion to go to and I was sent out to explore. As I navigated through the bust streets and tried to keep up with the hard core biker, I was able to experience things from a different view.

We left at 10 in the morning and didn’t get back until 8:30. Although it was a long, sweaty day, I enjoyed it. We ended the day on a lookout at the highest point in the city. Another memory.

And today I headed back to school, with under two months to go.

I think I figured this thing out. The truth is I am so excited to go home, but on the other hand, I know that once I say goodbye, that’s it… at least for awhile. So therefore, since I don’t want to say goodbye for good, I’m not ready to go yet.

However, there’s no avoiding what’s to come, so until then, it’s all about enjoying these last weeks, which are unfortunately filled with exams, which fortunately don’t matter…. too much.

With that being said, here are some pictures, to illustrate the trip: