5-11-09

Monday, May 11, 2009

Had grammar then I stuck around the CLM to do some journaling/studying. We had a meeting at 2:30 so I didn’t have time to go home but I didn’t get much done. At the end of the meeting Verónica gave a short speech about how we were one of her favorite semesters, we haven’t had any major problems, and that she will really miss us L It was so sad – I’m not ready for goodbyes yet!
After the meeting I continued to be unproductive which is a slight problem since finals are this week..yikes! Then I went to our last tutorials where José took us to this cute little enclosed park behind the church by his office. It’s sort of Japanese-esque. We just sat in the shade of the purple blossom trees and talked about the semester and our future plans. I went back to the CLM yet again and got nothing done..again. I think senioritis is worse when you’re abroad!
Then I came home, changed, and fixed my make-up before going to Whitney’s. When I told Taylor she could take the straightener to Portugal I forgot that I would need it for tonight.. thankfully my friends are willing to share theirs! On my way I had three “issues”. 1. While in the crosswalk in front of Flamboyant, my clutch broke and I dropped it right in the middle of the street forcing me to bend over in my short dress (shorter than I remember it being!) while a city bus waited for the light to change. Great. 2. While passing by a garage door I pulled a Marilyn Monroe – for real. 3. Since I had some extra time I stop by Blanco to check out their new swimming suits. On my way down the stairs I biffed it … bad. Since my strap was broken on my clutch (that contained my camera and phone) I couldn’t catch myself with my arm so I tumbled down a few stairs and sprawled out on the floor in front of a large crowd. Nobody laughed along with me, just stared and asked if I was ok so I jetted as fast as I could!
Whitney was waiting for me at the gas station and said we had to change plans – her host family was being dumb (not surprising) so we were going to Cassandra’s instead. I was surprised to find out that my piso is much bigger than theirs! Hers was cute though and she has a little yippy dog – thank goodness I don’t have to deal with that. So I quick did my hair and we zipped off to the gas station to meet Cassandra, then we walked up to the Mirador together to meet the rest of the program for our farewell dinner.
It was so pretty when we got there – just before sunset so the Alhambra was lit by the beautiful last glimmer of sun from the day. It really reminded me of the first time we were up there as a group on Aurelio’s tour; that seems like just yesterday and forever ago at the same time! Everyone looked really nice and we took loads of pictures before walking to the restaurant. It was set up with two long tables and fancy place settings, bread and salad already on the table. I had so much fun – good food and good friends J How corny… but true! Throughout the meal everyone had their fair share of tinto de verano and Alhambra, that’s for sure.. even Veronica, Jose, and Aida. The first dish besides the salad and bread was a plate of meats and cheese then the second was red peppers stuffed with some seafood and a cold orange shrimp ball (Jeff took care of that for me). Next was some crab meat and French fries then….dessert! Small squares of caramel and chocolate cakes drizzled with topping, ice cream, and whipped cream. After that they gave us an after dinner “drink” aka a little shot of juice – cute and delicious!
It was so hard to leave, I felt like I should tell everyone goodbye since I might not see them all again .. ever. I decided not to get all sentimental and just make a point to despedir a mis mejores amigos la semana que viene. I took another picture with José and Verónica and gave them a hug which got me a little emotional but I also decided that I’ll just have to go say goodbye to them next week too.
After the dinner a group of us went to Hannigan’s even though it was already 12:00 on a Monday night. When in Spain.. Mitch and I shared our newfound Ron Miel with them and we just had a really good time hanging out and enjoying one of our last times together. It was a sad walk home with Mitch :( we got talking about the things we’ll miss and the amazing time we’ve had here. It sucks that so few people truly understand and can talk to me about my semester – even worse that I’m not going to be around most of those people after next week! Ugh.