Winding Down

The next three weeks will not be much fun. I will not be traveling. I will not be going out until 2:30 in the morning. I will not be spending entire days watching movies and catching up on my favorite American shows online.

No, the next three weeks–the final three weeks of my time here in Madrid–will be spent studying. Ugh. I’ll finally start to worry about my grades which is something that seems more foreign now than anything I have seen mixed into paella. Even though finals are at least two weeks away, I am already a little late in starting to study. That’s because failing a class in Spain is a real possibility. My professor for one of my classes told me that he expects about 40% of the students to pass his course. These classes are very tough and my compatriots and I are scrambling to figure things out just so we can pass the tests, because acing them is almost unheard-of in most cases.

This, coupled with the recent visit of my parents, has really made me want to go home. Yet at the same time, I can’t yet fathom the fact that I will not be returning to this amazing place and these amazing people next semester. In my mind, it is as if I will just be taking a break for Christmas just to see all my IES Abroad friends and classmates again in Spain next Spring.

So, I guess I have no choice but to seize these final three weeks and get the most out of them that I can. I’m realizing now that studying abroad here in Spain has truly been a once in a lifetime experience. It is something that should be cherished while it lasts because it probably won’t happen again. In this moment, I regret all the energy I put into stressing out and being homesick at the beginning of the semester. But, then again, I regret nothing because it has all led to this moment. And this moment is good.