good-bye, alcala

today was our last day studying at the university of alcala de henares. we went over our exams (i did great on one of them and i am pretty sure i got the worst grade in the class on the other one... oops) and had a totally informal "graduation ceremony" where our spanish professor, jesús, gave us these diplomas that he just made himself. then, we went over to profe's house for an end-of-the-trip party. there was lots of food (paella, etc.) and good company. and this one girl in our group made a video/slideshow of all of the places we've visited, and we all did individual interviews just briefly telling profe how great he was and how much we appreciated him--he got all teary-eyed when he saw it and it was awesome. we gave him the gift that we bought him (this mini-triptych that was his favorite thing in spain) and he loved that too. so basically, overall, it was a successful day.

i am seriously SO SAD that this program is over. it's funny: you always hear how study abroads are all life-changing and all that, but it really was. i hate being dramatic and sentimental. but we're all getting so nostalgic now that tomorrow is going to be our last day together (well, at least for most of the people who are still going to be here). it had to end sometime, though. and it's like mom says about family reunions: it's better for them to be too short and leave you wanting more than for them to be too long and make you want to leave. too much can be too much. and i'm sure that i could get tired of this at some point. i'm sure i could.

dad's flying in on thursday morning, which will start blake and alyse's excellent adventure... we currently have plans but no reservations or bookings. which i am slightly worried about but we have no choice any more. we shall see what happens! oh yes, and on that note: this may very well be one of my last posts because i am not bringing my computer on our travels because it's so HEAVY so we'll be using locutorios/hotel internet until i regreso a los estados unidos.


this is just a good pic from our trip to teruel last week.