T minus 13 days.

First of all: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!! :)

One more week in Sevilla. I leave next Friday at 8pm to fly to Barcelona, spend three days in Barcelona, then hop on a (8-hour...) bus to Madrid for 2 days and then head back to Oregon. 13 days total left. That's not nearly enough time.

Don't get me wrong. I am excited to see everyone. To see my momma's brand-new look, get a real-live smooch from my niece, get big hugs from my daddio and brother and sister and grandma, go to sushi and froyo with Annie (and eat like 10 plates of sushi), get a pedicure with Helen (this is GOING to happen, sistah!), see my BFF Kayla and catch up, move in and hang out with my new roommates, and see everyone else that I've missed while I've been here. And share my stories and goodies with everyone.

But...I'm not gonna lie, I wish I could come back for another semester. I have made some really great friends here that I'm going to miss. I have found the places I like going to and feel comfortable in. I'm learning so much Spanish. I'm traveling. I'm falling in love. Wait, not literally. But falling in love with 4-year-old students and cities and countries and professors ;) and friends and my Spanish family.

And now I have to leave. When coming here, people told me that 4 months wasn't enough time. I kind of laughed at them. I was in Italy for 2 months and was kind of ready to come home after that long. I figured 4 months would be the perfect amount of time. I was wrong. So wrong. 3 months is just about the time where you start to feel comfortable with things and love where you are. I mean, I loved it from the start. But the things I've done and the people I've met and the memories I've made since my first days here have just built up and stacked on top of each other like the bricks of a house. I finally feel like I'm at home here because of all those things.

Again, don't get me wrong. I don't think Spain could ever actually be my home. I don't imagine I could ever be this far away from my family for an indefinite period of time. But I want to keep speaking Spanish. And hanging out with my Spanish friends. And TRAVELING. And learning. About language and culture and teaching and myself. If I could just go home for a couple weeks for Christmas, then come back here for another semester, I'd be happy. I could see the places I didn't get to in my time here, and hopefully be closer to the level of Spanish fluency that I would like to be at (let's not talk about the amount of time I've spent speaking English here. We won't go there.). Then I'd come home in the summer (before the 120 degree Sevillan summer) and be back for good, ready to roll.

I did this same thing before I left to come here. I was talking about the things in the US I'd miss. And I really haven't missed most of them, besides the people. So I know I'll be fine when I get back and get over my jetlag. But the time leading up to that will not be easy, although I'm going to make the most of it! Seeing the sights I haven't yet seen and re-visiting my favorites. Hanging out with the amazing people I've met here. (Oh yeah and studying...stupid finals really put a damper on things. And packing, and seeing how much I have to get rid of because I can't fit everything in my bags...yet I can't seem to stop shopping.)

So, don't worry about me. I'll be back before any of us know it. And I will definitely be glad to be back home with my loved ones. So here's to making the most of what's to come and enjoying my last (SUNNY) days in Sevilla, while looking forward to what God has in store for me when I get back to the states. See you all in a fortnight! Minus a day...



but (shhh, don't tell my mom) I may have though about/looked into ways I could stay here. Including nanny jobs and directly enrolling in the university without paying for a program like CIEE....which I think would be super-cheap...