The Most Terrifying Final Exam & Time to Say Goodbye

I just finished my last examen final!! YAYAYAYAY

I had the most terrifying final exam experience this Tuesday. It was for my “Instituciones y Derecho de la Unión Europea.” There were so much material to study because we pretty much covered all the major institutions and organs of the European Union plus the principles of “derecho” that the Union abides by. I won’t have worried too much if it was a normal, written exam that I’m used to. The scary part was that it was an oral exam!! My first time taking an oral exam, and that in Spanish.

I walked over to the designated classroom shivering with nervousness. There were two other students from the States and one Erasmus student. To ensure the fairness of the exam, we all entered at the same time although the exam itself was one-on-one talking with the professor. He gave me a few sheets of paper to scribble on, and asked me two questions. I tried to write down everything I remember as fast as possible (my hand was flying across the paper.) After few minutes, I had to explain my answers to him. He asked me some extra questions that I’ve never expected, and I was perplexed for few seconds, but I tried my best to answer him.

After the exam, I felt like a huge weight was lifted off from my shoulders! Phew!! That was scary, but it was a great experience!

As I now have only one day left in Salamanca (unbelievable!!) I must say that this one semester has been absolutely “what I needed.” The experience here gave me so many things, but above all, I figured out what I want to study in the future (thanks to this intimidating derecho class) + what I want to write for my thesis, and, on a non-academic side, I got to know so much about myself and learned to mingle with people who are very, very different from me. The only downside is that I got to love this city and this country so much that I would have a terrible longing for volver aquí. But I´m sure I will come back. I will come back and visit my friends and professors and IES family. Nos vemos pronto y gracias por todo!