Lauren's Semester in Spain

So this is it. The last day.

It doesnt seem real. I dont feel like I am going home tomorrow morning. I feel like I am supposed to stay in Sevilla for the rest of the year...I am not finished. I havent eaten at all the tapas bars, I havent been to all of the discotecas, I havent seen all of the flamenco, I havent learned all that is possible, I havent spoken all of my spanish.

Last night was a night to remember, everyone in the Center, including the profesores, went out to a dance bar. Before that, we went to tapas together and had a fiesta at the center, which included music and dance performances by students. I danced the sevillana for the last time. I said goodbyes.

I got back this morning (really early, I was lame), slept for an hour and then hopped in a taxi with my roomate at 4:45. We got to the airport, (which still wasnt open) and who was there but basically the entire school catching flights to Madrid and then home. It was goodbye session number two. Once Emily was all set and ready to go through security, I said goodbye and made it just in time to catch the bus back home. I got home by quarter of 7, and was able to get a few hours of sleep before it was time to get up and start the day.

Now its off to pack, do a few last minute things, and enjoy Sevilla for one day more. But, as Ma always said, its not "goodbye," its "so long." So, I will take a leaf from her book and say "So long, Sevilla."

Hasta luego.

Last night I went to the Sevilla FC game against Villarreal. IT WAS AMAZING! Sevilla ganó 1-0. And the goal was incredible. The clock read 44:59 in the first half, and they got a goal! The crowd was going wild! They were singing this Sevilla song and drums were playing and it was crazy!

It was interesting to note the atmosphere, because some of the crowd reactions caught me by surprise. There was no sort of booing at all. When the crowd is trying to distract the other team when they had the ball close to the goal they all whistled... and whistling usually means something good in the US.

I am sooo glad I got to go! My senora is a Betis fan, so she was dissappointed when I said I was going to a Sevilla game, but hey, Betis isnt doing so hot this season anyways.

In other news, I just finished my last final. You know that sense of relief you get when you finish finals? Yeah, well, its more of like a sadness. Tearssss. Adios clases, adios profesores, adios español. Tomorrow morning I am watching the sunrise. And at night, we are having our last fiesta at the Center. And then I am staying out all night until I bring Emily to the airport Wednesday morning at 4:30. (haha, that is actually a pathetically short night out, lol). i hope it doesnt rain. It rained ALL weekend. Heres hoping for a great last few days.

Try and remember the most amazing thing you have ever seen or experienced in good old Mother Nature. Remember how it completely took your breath away. Remember how it is literally impossible to come up with words to describe its beauty.

Ok. Now picture the sky literally filled with hundreds of millions of stars. Maybe even bajillions.

It was incredible. In Morocco this past weekend, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a night camped out in an oasis by the side of a huge sand dune in the outskirts of the Sahara Desert. The entire experience was incredible. The most amazing, breathtaking thing I experienced was the estrellas, the stars. In the complete darkness of the desert, the stars burn brightly. I layed out in the sand with some of the people on the trip and we stayed there on the (cold) sand for a long time just taking in the sky -- its vastness, its neverending landscape painted with stars. I was literally in shock that that many starts exist. I remember the last time the stars took me by surprise I was in the boonies in Maine on a Circle K trip. This was two hundred and thirty seven times more shocking.

Then there was the sunrise the next morning. Sitting on a sand dune, looking out into the desert. Again...Nature at its best. I am still surprised that it happened: that I was there, that I saw the stars, the sunrise. I walked in the Sahara. I rode a camel.

Morocco was such a perfect way to end a completely amazing semester abroad. It was so different from anything I have visited, and I am so happy that I was fortunate enough to go.

Now comes the hard part of the semester: the End. I just finished my last class. Mi última clase. Thats it. I will never have another spanish class again. Ever. And I am really sad. I have had five different classes here, all in Spanish. I am talking completely in Spanish, like no English allowed. Intensive Grammar, Politics and Economy, History of Franco, Spanish for the Health Porfessional, and Cultural Realities. I have gotten to the point where going to a Politics or History class in Spanish doesnt phase me. In fact, having class in English back at Salve is going to be wierd, because I havent just had spanish grammar classes here, I have had real subjects.

Sometimes when I am talking in English, I cant think of words. I can think of words in Spanish, and I know what they mean, but I cannot for the life of me think of the English translation...so I use the Spanish word, Spanglish if you will. And that is aweeesome. I dont want to lose that (Although I do hate that my creative writing has increasingly worsened over the semester since I cannot think in English anymore, haha).

I feel like my mind is just now reaching its peak; I cant stop now. So when I get back home and speak in Spanglish, please dont take it as an insult, because its not. My mind can think in Spanish now...and it has been for three and a half months now...so its going to take some time to readjust.

But until I return home, I have a week left. A week to use my Spanish. A week to take in Sevilla for the last time.