As the weeks start winding down, Vienna envelops me with her last minute charms and whimsical personality. She reminds me of all the wonder and culture that started here, and why I have been captivated by her since the 8^th grade. Still, no charm can match the sweetness and authenticity of a child appreciating you for who you are and you seeing them for whom they are. During my last day in my teaching internship it dawned on me, that although I did not foster the break out of a genius, I did connect with my students at a personal level.

This past Tuesday, our IES group as well as the IES students directly enrolled in Universidad de San Francisco Quito got together for a goodbye dinner. It was a bit strange having the dinner on Tuesday when we leave on Saturday, but I guess that was the only time that worked for everybody. Our host moms attended the dinner as well, and it was cool to be able to meet a member of everyone else’s host family.

Things to Know:

1. Research the weather before you come. People hear ‘Spain’ and think, “Oh, it’s always hot there.” But it’s actually relatively cold the majority of the spring semester. It even flurried at one point. We didn’t get beach weather until about two weeks before the program ended, and even then there was sporadic rain and cold fronts. As a native Floridian, I didn’t mind the slight chill for a change of pace. But just know what to expect.

I’ve been back in the good ol’ USA for about two weeks now, and I’ve been reflecting on my time in Barcelona. Though most of my blog has been travel-related, I spent the majority of my four months exploring my host city. Visiting and living in a city are two completely different experiences. Now that I know Barcelona personally, I have more of an insider’s perspective than a fleeting tourist does. Europe is very different from America, and Spain is a very different country from the rest of Europe.

As I sit in my kitchen, I think of that day in January when I wrote my first blog post. I was thinking about how I just finished my first semester of junior year and how it seemed as though I just came from the airport. Now in the same house, in my mind, I see myself leaving Logan airport trying to find my mother’s car because after more than 10 hours of traveling I just wanted to be home.

While abroad I noticed that my language skills in French have gotten better. From time to time I no longer have to think when speaking to professors at IES or my host family. I say the emotion I feel and I can finally understand my host brother. However, with the progression in one language, I feel like I’ve been set back in my native tongue. For example, at the dinner table with my host family, I find myself saying “because” in two languages at the same time or using the ever so friendly placeholder “like” between every other French word.

In my first blog before heading to Spain, I wrote that I hope the hills surrounding Charlottesville will start to look like Montserrat.  Well, they don’t, at least not quite yet.