Coming to an End
Well, the final days of the trip are closing in and I’ve been trying to spend my last hours carefully. I finished up my souvenir shopping and went on a few photographic expeditions over the past few days. Currently I am stalling on a few last papers that I need to write before i start packing. My plane leaves in exactly 36 hours from BCN airport. The flight is a little longer than 10 hours but we land about 4 hours after we take off (crazy time zones).
It will be very weird not being able to walk down the hall and round up a crew to cook dinner with, or be able to find people willing to go walking and sightseeing at any time of the day. I will really miss a lot of the people on this trip and we have been able to forge some very cool friendships. In a way, living in Residencia Onix with this group felt a lot like freshman year again. A hall full of people, everyone trying to get a little work done in between having a good time and making memories that will last a lifetime. We have already made plans to return to Barcelona in 18 years for the completion of the Sagrada Familia.
It is hard to believe this time has flown so quickly. We had a final barbecue on the roof of Onix to close out the summer today and I was reminiscing with someone, remembering the day I introduced myself to her 10 weeks ago in the Barcelona airport. It is crazy to think of all that we have seen, learned and experienced since that day even though it feels like it was just yesterday. Everyone on this trip has grown, learned a lot about themselves, and received an incredible perspective on the world through spending this amount of time overseas. It will be intersting to think how our perceptions of American culture will change when we go back. Maybe we won’t take the little things for granted, like free refills and ice in your drinks.
I miss my friends in Atlanta and I am very ready to relax with my family at my house out in West Texas. I am ready to enjoy a hot dog and a beer at Turner Field and grill out with my new roomies. I am ready to have some of my mom’s homemade food and stop in at Oscar’s Super Buritto. (anyone notice a pattern here?)
It still hasn’t sunk in that I am leaving in 36 hours. All of us have grown so used to being here that it will be strange to go home and be able to walk into a shop and describe exactly what you want. We will feel out of place being able to listen to and understand conversations around us. We won’t have to get by with a few short phrases, gestures, and hoping that if someone asks us a question, they don’t speak to quickly.
Even though I have enjoyed every single second of this trip, it is time to go home.
If you had 36 hours in Europe. How would you spend them?
July 20th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
change my flight…