The end of a dream.

So I haven't really had the heart to blog about the last week in Spain, but I should probably do it before too much time passes. It went way too fast. Kind of like a freight train rushing off to somewhere, and you can't really get off, because you know you have to get there, but still, you wish you could stay, at least for a moment.

Anyway, our last day in Spain we had "graduation." I'm still waiting for my grades to be posted, but I'm pretty sure I did well. But we had a little graduation ceremony at AlcaLingua to celebrate finishing up.

Vega, Cristina, me, and Rebeca - my teachers. I love these women so much!

Melanie and I with our diplomas - three months of "homework" in our little bedroom paid off! :)

The next day we headed off to the Canary Islands for four days! Only seven of the ten of us went, and our first day there was a bit gloomy, because we were all missing the other three, two of which we may never see again. Plus it was cloudy. But after that, the sun came out, and we spent four days lying on the beach, hanging out at the pool, swimming in the ocean, and staying up reeeeeally late at night talking about life and getting to know each other better.

Carina, Melanie, me, and Isabel. We made some amazing memories in the Canaries that I'll never forget. <3>

Me, Melanie, Isabel, Carina on Playa de las Americas on Tenerife island.

We flew back to Alcala on the 23rd, and then three of us flew backhome on the 24th. I cried for a full half hour once on the plane, when I couldn't see Madrid out my window anymore. My flights went okay, I was delayed in Chicago, but I got home, and that was that.

It's weird thinking back, now, on the whole experience. It seems kind of distant and far away, now that I'm back in "real life" picking up where I left off when I left for Spain. It's a lot like a dream, almost as if it didn't even happen. But it did. And it changed me. It changed the way I look at the world. It opened doors to me that before I was afraid to enter. It changed the way I look at myself, the way I feel about my own capabilities, the way I feel about myself when I interact with groups, with friends. It taught me that people all over the world, albeit we have our cultural differences, are still the same. We all have hopes and dreams and wishes. I think that's the biggest thing I learned - that despite some differences, people all over are still the same. And when you define the relationship by the similarities, not the differences, you find friends you never thought you'd ever discover. Friends that change your life forever.

Viva España!