It's so unbelievably unimaginable to think that this is already my last weekend in Cáceres. I've been so blessed throughout this whole semester with wonderful Iowa Staters, a sweet-as-pie host mom, and great and very compatible roommate, passionate instructors, amazing Spanish friends, and an internship with the best boss I could ask for and wonderful residents for whom to care.
This last week of classes flew by, and Friday morning found me in my last Spanish 330 literature class. Profesor Bernal has been so great to have class with. He is so passionate about teaching, and his love for what he does radiates through the classroom and spreads to all of it. Only the best teachers can take pieces of Spanish literature that are hundreds of years old and make them understandable, relatable, and even enjoyable. He ended class on Friday morning with a beautifully written story about a mother taking her oldest daughter to her first day of school. The story ends with the mother leaving her daughter in the classroom, with a big A written on the board-- the beginning of learning, of literature, of education. He related it to us coming here, and to that with this last class comes an end to our studies in Spain, but a beginning to our relationship with each other and with him.
Friday afternoon was spent at la Trufa, studying with Angélica, Luke, Taylor Anne, and Hannah. With the end of the semester comes ungodly amounts of essays due, as well as making arrangements and getting ready to leave. Friday night found me absolutely unable to sleep and in the midst of one of my rare, but intense anxiety attacks. I was overwhelmed by the sadness of leaving, the amount of work I have left to do before I go, the thought of packing and dragging all my crap through five countries, and the thought of coming home to my real life; coming back home to school, to work, to early morning fitness class, to family drama, and to facing my future. After about two hours of sleep I gave up, got up out of bed, and started doing homework. As I crossed things of my page-long to-do list, I started to feel better and capable of dealing with life. Angélica and I took a break from studying and went to take advantage of some salon services while we're still here-- most services, like waxing, cost less then half of what they do back home, so we pampered ourselves a little bit while we could afford to do. We headed over to Manometro, our favorite bar, for a drink before heading home. As always, our favorite waiter, Pepe, was there to welcome us. I'm going to miss him, his signature wink, and all of the free drinks we end up with thanks to him! After going home for homework and lunch, I ended up back at Manometro again to study with other people in our group, and then we decided we'd had enough and went to Chocolat for some delicious goodness and some fun group time. On the way home we ran across a march protesting racism. I didn't realize that was a problem here-- there's not really a whole lot of diversity here in Cáceres-- but I've learned that Spaniards will raise their voices in protest at any chance they get. After getting home last night it was time to settle back in for some studying. Sadly, we had absolutely no plans to do anything but study and write papers on our last Saturday night in Spain. That didn't last long though. My phone started ringing with calls from Andrew and Jess, imploring us to come out, and next thing you know, it's midnight and Angélica and I are getting dressed and heading out to the bars to meet up with some of the others who were out. I'm so glad we did! We started off at Divina Comedia and ended up at la Habana, dancing into the morning. You know it's been a good night if I wind up on the dance floor!
Today brings more homework to do and papers to write-- I have two to go and one test to study for before I am done with all scholarly obligations here. Tonight we're headed out for churros and then a goodbye dinner with our favorite Spanish girls. Tears will be shed, without a doubt. I can't express how much these girls mean to me and how good they've been to us while we've been here. Going to miss them, sin duda! I'm glad we'll have this last time with all of us together.
A couple things I've forgotten to mention... we got a new host sister, Tina, from Belgium. Super sweet girl! Also, it's been cold and rainy ALL week, and will be until after we leave. This type of weather is not normal here, so we've come to the conclusion that Spain is crying for us. Ha. Just a reflection of how we're all feeling about leaving.
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