...Dinámica.

Well, now we are home and it all feels like a dream. The last three days were the best.

Friday: We met up with our professor from Roberts who had come to visit. We had our last menú del día experience at a mesón. This is Tracy's plate:


She was excited about the prawn because it is such a traditional part of the paella. I was equally excited that there wasn't one on my plate! It was like paella with the noodles from Kraft macaroni and cheese... haha. Anyway, we had a really good time with our teacher: telling her all about the semester, asking questions about Roberts, hearing about potiential future plans for the study abroad program... We walked around the catheral with her, took some pictures, and then walked her back to the train station. It was a wonderful visit.

That night's youth group meeting involved a goodbye party for us. We talked, ate, played ping pong and other games... It was a lot of fun and so nice of them!! They have always been so welcoming to us, especially considering what little we do in return.

Saturday we went to a picnic in the mountains near Murcia with our history teacher and about eight or ten friends from class.
It was another absolutely wonderful day! We sat on some old castle ruins, eating, and talking in both English and Spanish. Now that the class is over, Jose let us realize that he understands English very well! The sun was very hot, so we eventually went down from the mountain to a little café and talked some more.

That night we carried out our plan to go to Santo Domingo (the main square) for coffee and just be in Spain... Three friends came with us, and then we met up with some other people to say goodbye afterwards.

On Sunday, Tracy and I got up to watch the sunrise one last time :-) haha... actually we saw it Mon. too, but that was different. I didn't realize how late it rises in Spain until I came back here and realized that it's up around 5. It didn't rise until about 7 in Spain. We finished packing, trashing, or giving away all of our stuff that morning. Then... we tried to walk to church with our suitcases (because we were going to take a bus after the service), but that proved impossible. We walked ahead and asked someone for a ride. They helped us out!!! Such wonderful people. So... we had our last church service there, and then set off for the beach, along with some of the youth. And some others met up with us there later. The plan was to stay in San Javier that night because our first plane left from that airport the next morning at 8. We got some food, went swimming, enjoyed each other's company... ANOTHER wonderful day!

After everyone had left, Megan and I went out to sit on the beach and watch the sunset. It was fairly peaceful... considering... The time I felt the worst about leaving was Saturday night. I was trying to fall asleep, and I just kept freaking out. But after that things were ok. It's hard to say exactly what I was worried about. I think I was sort of worried about getting through the airports, but once we got there it was totally fine. You just follow sign after sign... We kept getting where we needed to be so early that our flight wasn't even posted yet.

Backtraking... there were soooo many goodbyes. They were all a mix of sadness and awkwardness (am I ever going to see you again?), but I was glad to realize that if it hadn't been hard to say goodbye... there would have been nothing we enjoyed. So, really, I was glad to be sad to go. AH! Spain!

Let's see if I can write a bit about the flights without too much complaining... Here is a picture of Tracy's looking outside the first airport (we got there before it even opened!).

So yeah, San Javier only has five gates... It was a smallish plane, but we got to Madrid in about an hour. It was a long wait in the Madrid airport (our favorite place... not!). I spent the last of my Euros on the Euro menu at McDonald's and an outrageously priced Coke... On our plane to London (despite what you might think, that is on the way to NY from Spain... ha), there was a group of British kids who had been on a field trip in Spain. So, that was interesting. I didn't realize what a beast the London Heathrow airport was. We took a bus from terminal 3 to 5 and then a train thing to the correct part of terminal 5! Our flight was a delayed a bit because of the British Air strike, but the pilot made up the time (I don't like to think how), so we still got in at 9pm. The lady I sat next to lives in NY, and she had been on a cruise in Greece. She was pretty talkative, so that was nice. It was a really nice plane, and at first when I saw that there were like thirty movies to pick from I thought, I'm all set! But it was a tough seven hours (I know, I know, there are much longer flights...). I started three movies and just couldn't focus on any of them for more than twenty minutes (of course now, I want to know how they all end!). The food was really good, and the flight attendants were really nice. It should have been great. I was just really impatient. When we got in, we had to go through customs and all that, but we were there!!!!

Leaving Spain:

Arriving in NYC!

Are they really that different?

After getting into the airport I had a four hour car ride, so I didn't to get to bed until 2, which in my mind was still 8! I thought I would be really tired and sleep well, but I guess that's not how jet lag works. I woke up wide awake at 5:45! It was sort of a hard day, but then I slept from 7:30 til 5:30 (haha... I'm sure getting up this early won't last, but it is fun while it does!), and now I feel pretty good.

I just wanted to write about the last few days because they were so wonderful, but I don't really want to do any more reflecting right now cuz I just feel odd. I know it wasn't a dream, but it sure feels like one. I have woken up and don't know what to do!

Well, I'm really glad Tracy and I did this blog. I hope you enjoyed it. It is pretty funny to me to go back and read the old entries! Thanks for reading. See you soon!!!!

Betty