Last night I eventually gave up on studying and went to bed. I woke up this morning pretty early and studied a bit but then fell right back asleep and only woke up with enough time to throw on clothes and get out the door. Thank goodness I had a granola bar because I didn't have time for breakfast! My first class was a work period for our final projects but I used it to study for my test. Then came the test. I did the best that I could but I don't feel as confident as I did last time. Oh well, it happens, and now it is over! Next we had presentations in Gladys' class, I am already done so I get to just sit there and learn which is fun. After class I came home and took a shower before lunch (having gotten up so late I missed my shower time). Puri, Yumi and I had a lovely lunch before I was out the door again to go give a presentation on Las Meninas, a painting by Diego Velazquez. The presentation went really well and now I am basically done with school! After our presentations we had a little celebration in the school cafeteria. We had tapas and sangria (courtesy of Gladys) and chatted about our cultural identity and what we have learned in being here. It is kind of a way for them to help us wrap up our study abroad experience. There were lots of tears already and it was a great way to think back on how much we really have learned. After that Tara and I went to get Katelin's earrings changed (the piercings she got a month ago) and then I came home to have an hour to relax before dinner. I went out to some casual drinks with friends after dinner which was a good time. I love casual drinks over crazy late night bar hopping.
Cultural Identity:
I have become a lot more relaxed here in Spain than I have at other times. We really had to learn to go with the flow and that there are more important things than always following a plan or always focusing on work or homework. They value family so much here and take their time with things. They eat long meals, they walk slowly, they enjoy, they be. I think I need to take back some of this culture with me because it is very healthy to be calm and not have so much stress. I have also learned a lot and grown a lot in myself here. I have learned how to handle situations that are new and make me uncomfortable. I learned how to live in someone else's house for four months, how to handle meals with groups of older spanish women for hours and hours, and how to interact with people. I feel like I have matured a lot. Before this trip, one meal with mom and a group of her friends or a group of family friends (all adults) would be long enough for me and I would always want to run away after and I usually had Kristin there with me. Here I had to sit for hours and learn how to participate and enjoy these long meals with groups of people a different age than me. I have become more confident in my ability to travel alone and figure out different systems and languages without a lot of help. We have faced so many new and challenging things here that have helped me grow. Today's reflection was really important because I think it is easy to forget how far we have come in these few months and just how much we have learned.
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