November is almost over, Christmas lights have been put up but it seems like fall has just arrived here in Sevilla. It gets really cold early in the morning and later at nights but during the day, we are usually fine in a shirt and a light jacket. Next week will be my last week of official classes then we will have a week off, during which my friends and I will be travelling. I am excited to see more of Europe but it will be finals’ time when I come back, after which my program will officially be over. It feels like I just came to Spain yesterday and even though I have three weeks left, I am afraid that tomorrow when I wake up, it will be time to go already.
The road that I walk from the university to CIEE"s study center
The other day I was walking across a park to get to the study center of CIEE from the university and realized that I had been walking that way almost everyday for the last two and a half months. I remember the first few days, I found myself complaining about everything, sometimes homesick and crying, longing for the day the program was over. That day, however, I was trying to walk a little slower, wishing the streets were longer so I could walk Sevilla for a few more seconds. I do not regret having felt upset at first because everything needs time to get used to and if I had enjoyed everything since the beginning, I probably would not have appreciated my last moments in Sevilla as much as I do now and that this would not be such a life time experience.
I do not keep myself in my room studying anymore. I keep up with my schoolwork but I try to spend more time outside of class, sometimes just walking on the streets of Sevilla. I also quit my volunteer work. I love the kids but sometimes I do not know what to do with them and I find my help there is not very necessary. I appreciate that CIEE try their best to organize extra-curricular activities but sometimes those are just for the sake of having something to do. Even though finals are coming and I am pretty busy, I want to spend my last moments in Sevilla to enjoy the city, meeting the people, watching the people, watching the leaves changing colors spending more time with my friends, as much as I can because I have no ideas when the next time I will be back in Spain is.
During the relatively short time, I have made quite a few friends here. My closest friends are all from the States but I have been pretty close to some Spanish friends too, one of whom I can only hang out with during the weekends. This weekend, however, my friend has to go home in Cadiz and due to the travel plan as well as finals, this is my last weekend that I can meet up with friends. We can try to meet during the week when my friend comes back but it really struck me, thinking that the last time we hung out could be the last time. Gradually I will have to say goodbye to my school, my favorite professors, my Spanish friends, my American friends, my host family, and my Sevilla. I think my transition time was harder and longer than that of other people as I am not the outgoing type of person but I got used to it and Sevilla has become my home. It has been the place where I feel secure, relaxed and comfortable so that I want to come back after each travel trip. It feels like my study abroad trip just started to get exciting and now I have to leave already!
My friends and I having "tapas"
Going out to have ice cream is what my friends and I enjoy doing during the weekends
A friend of mine says this is not the end but rather the beginning of my adventure to become a world traveller. I realize the hardest part of traveling and living in another country is actually leaving the people that you have been so attached to. To tell the truth, I prefer many other cities to Sevilla: Paris is way more gorgeous and if I could choose one more time, Lisbon or Valencia would probably be my destination. However, it is the experience as a whole that makes it memorable. It is the inconvenience in the beginning, the culture shock, the adaption, hanging out with friends, staying late after class to go have “tapas”, sharing with friends the experience of being foreigners, failing to explain things in Spanish sometimes, etc. that is impossible to forget. All this will make it hard for me to leave.
My friends and I having "Grofes" - a Spanish dessert for my birthday.
Us at the Thanksgiving dinner that CIEE organized for us