The weekend before my family arrived (to visit me) I went to the beach with Gema and her family. I have mentioned Gema and her family before, but I don't think I've mentioned how much happier I was to have them in my life. Every Wednesday I would go to her house for lunch to practice my Spanish and as well as her English. Sometimes this would be the highlight of my week, because I always felt happy and at ease in her home. If I was having a bad week, I could always depend on having a good laugh on Wednesday. But case in point, I couldn't have chosen a better way to spend my final weekend as an exchange student.
But my weekend with the Martinez family will be one to remember the rest of my life, not because of the things we saw, but because of the people that I was surrounded by. I'm always going to remember Gema and Javi telling Marina to stop running or the sunset we saw at the lagoon outside of El Portil.
They were also people that I could really depend on! When my parents arrived in Sevilla, they offered to drive them from the airport to their apartment! But not only that, we had dinner at their house, the same night, and they accommodated to my brothers picky eating habits.
That Wednesday we had dinner, in the oldest restaurant in Sevilla. Javi and Gema did a really good job at picking all the right food for us. It was so good that my family, still, says that it is probably one of the best meals that they have head over our three week trip.
But saying good bye to Javi and Gema was probably one of the hardest goodbyes. It's true though, that you make some of your best friends while studying abroad, even though Javi and Gema were old enough to be my parents, I know that I will see them again some day!
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| Gema, Marina, Gema, and I at the Feria in May. |
But with all of the places I have gone to, I was hosted by people that, for the most part, I had never met before, and was treated with the utmost kindness and cordiality!
Coincidentally, I will be returning to the United States on July 10th, the same day a year ago that I left for Ireland. So I think that this will be my last blog post as a gap year student, but boy, has it been an adventure. I have traveled to seven countries, (Ireland, Mexico, Canada, England (sort of,) France, Spain, and Portugal!) became proficient in another language, learned new skills (from how to operate lab equipment to fly fishing,) and I have met a great array of people from Belgium to New Zealand to Paul Smiths, New York. But I think most importantly is that the girl coming back on that plane from Spain is a much more confident and independent young woman, than the one that jumped on the jet headed to Dublin a year ago! But honestly, thank you so much to everyone that has made my year all that it was, and I hope that you have also enjoyed reading my blog!
As I am coming upon another chapter in my life, college, and feeling a little overwhelmed with the changes going on, I thought that it would be fitting to end with a quote by the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu: Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
Adios todos y muchas gracias para leais mis articulos!!!!!!!
