Saturday, December 19, 2009

I'm HOME! (...my last blog)

Hi everyone! Italic
Let's see...the last few days have been pretty crazy. Thursday I woke up around 7:45 to study a little for my Oral Exam in POE. The exam was at 12:30, and went decently well...not as well as I had hoped. I think I was just too excited that I couldn't think straight! I got back to Jardines and started to pack. It took about...3 hours. We had our last lunch with everyone, and that was sorta sad. After lunch I packed for a little more and then walked with Chryssi, Florian, Adam and Lauren to drop Marisa off at her bus. After that Merete and I walked around a bunch, taking pictures and getting gifts for people. I guess a lot of people had that idea, because we saw a TON of AIFS kids walking around getting presents for people! We had our last dinner at Jardines (hot dogs and eggs), and we said goodbye to some of the people. Marta kept saying "que pena", which basically means 'how sad'. She just sorta wandered out of the comedor, looking sad. It made me even more sad to be leaving! After dinner, Merete packed a little more and I waited for her before we left for the bar Odeon to meet all of the other AIFS people. A few of the kids, Armand, Colby and Max had been taking photos the whole trip of people not paying attention, etc. so they had put together a movie to show everyone. Unfortunately it didn't work when they tried to play it at the bar. We all then went to this disco called Metro, where a lot of the Spaniards met up with us. That was really fun, because it was like a big goodbye party. Everyone was there! We left around 3 to say goodbye at Neptuno to the first busload of AIFS kids leaving to catch their planes in Malaga. It was really sad. However, Colby had brought his computer so we got to see the video they had made! A few people had told me that they saw part of it, and that I make an appearance that was the best part of the movie, so I was a bit nervous as to what that included, haha. It ended up that the song they used at one part was a popular one that goes "Maria Mariaaaa", so when that song started there were like 6 pictures they had taken off of my Facebook and just thrown in there. Haha.
After that bus of kids left, we went back to shower and finish packing. Florian came over around 5am to Jardines to help us bring our stuff to Neptuno to our bus. Leaving with me was Merete, Breana, Will, and then Adam and Florian with us. It was super sad! After we finally made our way to Neptuno (those bags were HEAVY...my first one was 83 pounds before I evened them out!) we said our goodbyes. Inma was there to send us off. Florian looked like he was about to cry, and he reminded us about the first day he was there and how he remembered seeing Will and I in the basement when he was getting a tour of Jardines. He goes "you guys were my first friends here! It won't be the same!" Aww. He made me promise that when he goes to New York in July that I'll come visit. That would be so much fun!!!!!
Well, our bus left, and as we pulled away, Colby, Jacqui and Max mooned us. Wonderful. Haha. It was very sad driving out of Granada...
We got to Malaga and Paula was waiting for us. She had been there with the first group of kids. She helped us get through the check-on process, and then said her goodbyes and told us we were on our own! Yikes! There was a rather large group of us...about 20 on that plane, so that was fun, even though it was only about an hour and a half to Madrid. Once we go to Madrid, we ate some food, and then waited for our plane to Dallas/Fort Worth. That plane ride was 10 hours and 55 minutes, but it actually didn't feel that long at all. They showed the latest Harry Potter movie and Madagascar 2, so that helped. We had 2 meals, but I was so confused as to what time it was that I couldn't tell if I was supposed to be hungry, or what, haha. We landed in Texas around 5:30 and made our way through customs. The guy at customs was super nice, and all he asked me about was why I had dyed my hair...he liked the blonde. Weird. Anyway, we said our goodbyes to people who were leaving to other parts of the airport, and those who like in Texas. There were 6 of us (Taryn, Liz, Breana, Yuri, Will and I) on the Dallas to Minneapolis flight. We all hung out while we waited for our flight. It was weird being back in the states where everything was in English. Well, actually, Dallas was sorta a middle-ground for getting back into English, since there were a lot of people speaking Spanish there too. We all got smoothies...yumm...but I almost ordered in Spanish! I kept thinking prices were in Euros, and was like "Geez, a 4 Euro smoothie...that's like 6 dollars. Maybe I'll pass." Haha. Will said he by accident talked to one guy in a store in Spanish, but the guy just answered him in Spanish so it worked out. Haha.
Our plane was delayed by half an hour, so we ended up leaving there around 9:15pm. That flight seemed to take the longest since I was so excited. As we got into the Minneapolis area, I could see the snow on the ground! Yay!! We landed around 11:30 and then headed to the baggage claim. We got our HUGE bags and said our goodbyes. Will and I waited for my mom, and when she got there, we somehow managed to get all of our bags into our Camery! Wow!
Our traveling took 24 hours total, and I had been awake for over 50 hours. The last time I had gone to bed was after Granada 10 on Wednesday night. Haha.

It's weird to be home. I keep thinking in terms of things in Spain: Everything is still in Euros to me, the toilets flush funny here, and it's SUPER QUIET. I miss everyone that I met over there, but I'm definitely happy to be back home. It really is starting to feel like Christmas time now, with the snow and everything.

Well, I just want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my blogs. It really means a lot that you guys could enjoy my experiences with me through my writing. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and I hope I get to tell y'all even more stories the next time I see you! Have a very happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year! Thanks again!

Hasta pronto!
M :)

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