Hola! I have been
avoiding writing this last post for a while because it has been hard to face
the fact that my journey of a lifetime is finally over. The last week that I
had in Spain was absolutely the best week that I had in Spain. But before we
get to the good stuff, let´s talk exam week.
As I have mentioned
before, the schooling is crazy different there. So all semester we did not have
any homework or quizzes or tests or anything. You just simply show up, listen
to the professor, take notes and that is it. At the end of the semester there
are either final papers or final exams, or in some cases both. For me, my
finals consisted of two 15-20 page papers, another 10 page paper, 2 exams and 2
presentations. Needless to say, it was a rough end to the school year.
We still do not know
our final grades, but I am hopeful that everything went well enough for me!
Now, let´s get back to the fun stuff.
Unfortunately, my plane
ticket was booked for 2 days before the biggest festival/celebration in all of
Alicante called las hogueras. Instead of trying to explain it, I recommend that
you just google it. I will tell you the basics, but I am not an expert by any
means on this topic and by seeing the actual pictures you will want to
instantly fly to Spain to experience it. Anyway, all year long there are people
whose jobs consist of building these gigantic hogueras which are taller than
some buildings in the city. They are designed after anything and everything and
they just look insane, you really need to google it. I believe the celebration
is a total of 4 days, and during those 4 days all 80 something of the hogueras
are brought out into the city and then they light them on fire. Yes, that is
really what happens. It is crazy and I am hating myself every day for not
changing my flight. The thing is, it costs 1000 dollars to change your flight
and I just told myself that instead, I will just make sure that I come back in
a year or two to see them!
There were 2 nights of
parades while I was there to kick-off the beginning of the hogueras though, so I
was fortunate enough to see both of those with my host mom. We had been bonding
so much in the last month and it was so nice to have her taking me around to
see everything. In the last week the two of us went to the beach a number of
times, went to her friend´s house for lunch, stayed up until 4am just talking
and watching movies, saw 2 parades, she taught me how to make paella, and just
so much more. I am going to miss that woman more than words can express, and it
was so heartbreaking saying goodbye to her and the rest of my host family.
Now however, I am finally home. The end of my journey has finally come, and I couldn´t
be more sad about it. I am leaving behind thousands of memories and lessons
that I will never forget. The experiences, the memories, the people, the
lessons, the life that I lived there will never be forgotten and will always be
a part of me. I can never fully express what I have learned or learned to
appreciate being abroad, but I do know that it has changed me and shaped me
into a more mature and appreciative person, and for that I will always be
grateful. Adios España, y hasta pronto.
