Final Day

Wow. Today is my last day in Spain. It's hard for me to believe that six weeks has already come and gone. It feels like just a couple of days ago I was boarding my plane in Minneapolis, completely unsure of what was about to happen in my life. I have changed a lot in the six weeks since then, and I now find myself sitting here at my desk looking out over the Spanish mountains.

My bags are all packed, piled up on my bed. I really impressed myself. I was worried I was going to have to  pick and choose things to leave behind or check another bag. I have my suitcase and duffel bag full now, but I still have some room in my backpack which is nice. They don't have a scale here so I wasn't able to weigh it, but I think I should be fine. I had plenty of pounds to spare when I came here and it doesn't feel that much heavier.

School was good. We watched a movie and then had to bid goodbye to our teachers and some of our friends. :( When I got home and we were eating lunch, I had tears in my eyes thinking about how this was our last meal as a family, and then suddenly Nuria accidentally knocked over the water pitcher and it went all over me and I was soaked. Hahaha! It was definitely a mood lightener and I needed that. Then this afternoon I did all my packing (as seen above) and then Allison and I did one last shopping trip. We got a few snacks and food to bring home, and a few more souvenirs.

Dinner tonight was just Nuria and me but that was really nice. She made bacon cheeseburgers, which we've never had, but they were SO good and we had a good conversation. Then she took me for a walk around the murallas and the city and we picked up Marta along the way and just walked and talked. Perfect ending to my final day.

We came home from our walk and sat in the living room and ate colored popcorn and hot chocolate. I was teaching Marta a bunch of fun string games like cat's cradle, witch's broom, Eiffel Tower, etc. and it was so cute and fun. She made us matching bracelets earlier today that are so cute. I'm gonna miss that little girl a lot. The look on her face when we said goodbye tonight just broke my heart.  And she hardly ever comes to my room when I'm in here, but after we said goodbye she's come in here 3 times to ask me something. I think she just wants to see me one more time. I had to say goodbye to Nuria and Marta tonight because they're not going to be awake when I leave in the morning, and it was way harder than I expected. I don't even know the words I would use to thank them for everything in English, let alone in Spanish while I'm crying. Haha. For this reason, I wrote Jesus and Nuria a letter, and Marta a letter too. I'm going to leave them somewhere in the house tomorrow so they find them after I'm gone. I also gave them their picture frames today and they loved them. They're already asking me when I'm going to return to Avila and I wish I could come back ASAP!! After I came back from my shower, I opened up my suitcase and found a note from them inside. We both had the same idea I guess. It was so sweet and heartfelt and I am keeping that thing forever. I also got the sweetest goodbye email from my teacher, Rut today. It made me cry just reading it.

Now that I have my suitcases and everything packed up I'm getting more excited to come home. It's just the goodbyes in the middle that make this all so difficult. I'm getting on a bus to the airport at 6AM and my flight leaves Madrid at 10:25am. I'll be back in the US at around 1ish Saturday and back in MN at 8:31pm. Crazy how fast that all works. As sad as it is to leave everything and everyone here, I'm very excited to come home and see you all!!