Hasta Luego, Barcelona

4/30/09

I am finally done with all of my school work YES. Now all I have left to do is pack and, IF I have no problems on the flight home, I should be back in los Estados Unidos on Saturday afternoon.

I have only just really started thinking about leaving, up until now I have had too many other things to worry about, but it’s starting to hit me as we do all of our ‘last’ things. Today we all went to the beach for a few hours and tonight we’re heading back up to the bar on Tibidabo that has a great view of the city and then going to dinner. It’s going to be so bittersweet to go back. On the one hand I am incredibly excited to be back in Chicago, to see my friends, to hang out with my family; but on the other hand I’m sad to leave my friends here, to say goodbye to Antonia and not know when/if I will see anyone again.

When I thought about it at the beginning, the 4 months seemed like a very long time, but it really just went SO FAST. Some kids have left themselves about a week to travel after classes but the consensus is that most would rather just be going straight home. I’m happy that I’m just going back, as great as traveling is, it’s also stressful and takes some planning and I’m just ready to be home again. It’s funny that I’ll be going home to summer because I really don’t feel like it’s been ‘school’. Not that it wasn’t a lot of work or I didn’t have class everyday, but there were just so many more exciting things going on as well that they overshadowed the school part.

Well, this will be my last post. One of our assignments for Travel Writing was to write that 20 page story and we shared parts of them out loud in class. I was the last to read and my class/teacher really liked the ending paragraph and said it was a good way to end the class, so I figured it would be a good way to end my blog as well, so below is an excerpt from my story:

As much as she liked being organized and planning ahead, she could admit that some of their best times and all of their best stories had come from mistakes, mishaps, and straying off course. And she knew that in a way, Sophia was right. In the end the journey isn’t about the amount of landmarks that you can check off a list of must-sees. It’s about missed flights and late night buses, warm milk and pig legs, it’s about waking up in a dirty hostel not knowing what kind of weirdo is making noises in the bed next to you. It’s about ordering things to eat that you don’t even know how to pronounce. It’s about getting lost and caught in the rain. It’s about talking to toddlers who can speak the language better than you. It’s about praying to God you won’t see that naked man that hangs out in the Parc again. It’s about learning and enjoying the exciting differences of a new culture while rediscovering an appreciation for the familiar. It’s about building new relationships and finding friends that help you find yourself.