You know it’s your last week of your semester abroad when you start crying as the bartender making your drink asks, “How much longer are you here for?”
Just like when I was getting ready to come to Seville, the emotions are getting stronger and more conflicting. I start to tear up when I think about hugging my parents again, but I also tear up thinking about getting into a taxi to the airport and leaving this city.
“You can always come back,” the bartender told me Friday night, probably trying to prevent me from causing a full-out episode. I know someday I’ll just have to. This city has a big chunk of my heart.
Along with the end of the semester emotions, there are also, of course, finals. I thought being motivated was tough during midterms, but it’s only gotten about ten times worse for finals. The feeling of having so much else I’d rather be doing than studying is coupled with the fact that I don’t have much more of a chance to do those things. Plus, I’ve done pretty well all semester and can afford to slack off a bit.
On Friday, I took what I considered would be my two hardest exams: Nobel Prizes and History of Spain. Both of them were a lot of writing and a lot of remembering facts. My history professor told me that even without taking the exam, I would still pass the class, and I'm pretty sure that's the case with my other classes, too. So, as they say, “no pasa nada!”
Today I took my International Marketing exam and tomorrow, I’ll have my last one: Translation. It feels so good to be almost done now, even though this has been, and probably will always be, the least stressful final exams period of my life.
I can see why students coming back from studying abroad struggle to get back into the swing of things with school. I’m not typically the student to say, “As long as I get a C so I can get the credits it’s all good.” It’s going to be stressful having the pressure to do my best again… and to not be able to escape to new cities and countries during the weekends.
As I mentioned in my last post, my friends and I visited Valencia during the last weekend of November. Then, during the first weekend of December we had our final trip together to Rome.
In Valencia, we spent a lot of time just exploring the city. We got to visit the Oceanografic, which, with nearly 361,000 square feet of property, is the biggest aquarium in Europe. We spent quite a few hours marveling at seahorses, jelly fish, beluga whales and more. It was just nice to be reminded of the great big world outside of the study abroad bubble, which may seem crazy for me to say. Studying abroad does make you more conscious of the world around you and just how big it is, but it is still so easy to get caught up in the daily routine and travel plans. Just seeing the underside of a starfish can bring you back down to earth, and it's a good feeling.
One night, the girls and I decided to cook dinner at our Airbnb together. Not only was it so much cheaper than going out, it was also so much fun and made us appreciate the meal together much more. I wish we had done it more often.
As for Rome, it was absolutely incredible. I’m happy that was our last trip. The food, the people, the history, and the city itself just put me into this weirdly happy kind of enchantment. And even though we were a little nervous to be there, I’m happy to say it didn’t interfere with me falling in love with the city.
It’s crazy how it seems like the more I travel to other places, the more I notice about Seville. As one of my friends said on Friday night, it’s kind of hard to understand Seville unless you’re a sevillano. But I think studying here and spending time other places makes you notice things about your host city that you wouldn’t really notice otherwise, just because you begin to accept both the good and the bad as being the everyday norm. It's part of adjusting.
As I spend my last few days here, I'll be packing up my stuff, saying goodbyes, and trying to squeeze in some last minute visits. Definitely taking walks more frequently, too. Now that the Christmas lights are all lit up at night, the city almost has a new life. I've fallen in love all over again. People, and not just tourists, seem to be out and about more. I'm happy I'll get to have a couple of days to myself here now that school is practically over, but I know that it won't make it any easier to leave.