...The End?

            This semester has been nothing short of amazing; I’m so glad I decided to study abroad. I’m also really glad that everyone else in DIM decided to study abroad. We had such a great group this semester and it played a huge role in shaping my experience.

            We’ve spent this last week and a half soaking up as much of DIM and Madrid as we possibly could while simultaneously working on all of our papers that our professors most likely won’t actually read. My faith in Spanish academics has been faltering the entire semester. That was definitely my least favorite aspect of this program. The classes were for the most part TERRIBLE, the teachers were incredibly unhelpful, and nothing was clear. That being said, I loved, loved, loved my class about Madrid. I knew when I heard about the class that it was something I needed to be taking. I made a good decision going with my gut. Our teacher, Patricia, is truly wonderful and I miss her already! We had a party in class yesterday and she started crying because she was going to miss us. So sad!!!!

            Last Thursday was one of the first times we’d left the house other than to run since getting back from Paris. We had our “history final” in the morning (a quiz about a novel and a brief outline of what happened in Spain from 1808-1868...even though we knew everything in gross detail that had happened from 1788-1868) and at night, the program hosted a dinner for us. What they regretted to inform us, however, was that “dinner” meant the occasional appetizer coming around the room and an open bar. Have you ever seen your professors wasted? Needless to say, it was awesome and everyone had a really good time.

            On Monday we checked out the “alternative” section of Madrid, Malasaña. I think it must get more loco at night, because the most alternative thing we found was a store called “Skunk Funk.” We did buy some awesome candy, though, and I finally finished gift shopping! All things that are good.

            On Tuesday we went the other extreme, and checked out the fancy section of Madrid. We knew it was serious when Michael’s host mom told him that he needed to dress up to go. It was so pretty and there were so many nice and expensive things! We went into a jewelry store and they offered us macaroons while we looked! ¡Que fancy! We then tried to walk to Retiro to enjoy one last (ah! lasts!) glass of sangria. We ended up taking a very, very, verrry roundabout route, but it was awesome in that we explored Madrid! Erin and I then went to the aforementioned class party where we learned the dance to waka waka (thanks, Lauren!) and thought about how much we’re going to miss this. Last night we went to the Cave Bar; we had a pretty big turnout and a lot of fun. Some infamous pictures were taken so that DIM at its classiest will never be forgotten.

            Today has been SO SAD. We went for our last run! I am really impressed with us since we ran every day except for when we were sick or occasionally when touring around with visitors. Honestly though, if we hadn’t, Angeles’ portions would have gotten to us by now. We went to hand in our papers and to aula Duke for the last time. We said goodbye to Nuria and Eva and then had to pack. I was worried about the weight limit (obvi) but I am a solid .7 pounds underweight. We got Angeles and Emilio a little goodbye gift and have been lamenting over how much we’re going to miss them the whole day. We met up with a bunch of DIM kids to go eat churros for the last time at San Gines and it was delicious. I did pretty well with money in that I have 5.28 euro left over, which I plan to spend tonight. We’re going to O’Neills because…it’s…very…Madrid? For us it is, at least. We’re from America, damnit! We’re all about mixing culture. It’s just easing our transition back.

            My expectations for this semester have been far exceeded. There are too many good times to recount (but thanks to this blog, most have already been documented ;) ) and I don’t really want them to end. We had a conversation with Angeles the other day over a glass (okay, bottle) of wine where she jokingly (I hope) claimed we knew nothing. We argued – I went conservative, saying we knew 3 things, but Erin shot for the stars and said 100. We were counting things out (turns out we know about 10 things) and I realized that these are the moments I’m going to miss. It wasn’t the monuments, the museums, or the lectures (definitely not those) – it was the laughing with friends, the making fools of yourselves because you’re living in a culture which doesn’t speak your language, and the making fools of yourselves just because which really made this special. I worry that my life’s going to be dim without DIM, and I know all of yours will be without reading my unnecessarily long posts about it. Although it goes against my nature, I think it’s best to leave you with a mere three words: Vale, venga, vamos.