Shorter blog this week: Amidst all the packing and the last-time treks across Ávila, I didn´t have time to write the usual novel. Two days left and I´m trying to figure out what to feel. (I overthink things, if you haven´t noticed.) Maybe a better way to phrase it is I´m trying to find the perfect combination of being sad about leaving and excited about going home. For example, if all I can think about is going home, then I´m going to miss out on the rest of the trip. But if I can´t stand the thought of leaving Spain, then I´ll just be melancholy for the rest of the summer, thinking about what´s behind instead of what´s ahead of me: seeing my family again, showing off my pictures, and eating all the Spanish sweets I´m bringing home. Instead, what I need to do is soak up today and tomorrow (not Saturday, that´s my stuck-on-a-plane-or-in-airports day) and promise myself I´m coming back to visit. I don´t know when, I don´t know for how long, and I definitely don´t know where the money´s coming from. (I´m an education major.) Next time, I want to bring my family or my future students with me, and not just because I want to show off my Spanish skills! This type of trip is one that needs to be shared with others. It´s that awesome! This trip, I honestly wasn´t that homesick, because I knew at the beginning of the trip that everything I would miss (people, food, English) would be waiting for me in six weeks. Now that the end of the trip is near, I am excited to go home, but I´m also thinking about the things I didn´t have time for this time around. I never saw a fútbol game. I never went to a bullfight, although I don´t know if I would enjoy it or have to watch through my fingers. I never saw people running with the bulls (I´m in the wrong part of Spain for that.) There are so many things I didn´t do and foods I didn´t have a chance to try, but I find comfort in the fact that I still experienced a lot. I swam in the Mediterranean. I visited a castle and climbed up a tight-spiraling, terrifying tower. I made sloppy joes for my host mom. I visited seven different cities in Spain. I walked through El Prado and El Greco´s house, I explored an open market in Madrid without getting robbed, and I learned how to dance Las Sevillanas. Not to mention I survived six weeks of living with someone who spoke a different language, navigating unfamiliar cities and public transportation systems, eating food that wasn´t my family´s, and not turning on my cellphone. (The last one was actually the easiest for me!) I tried new food like tortilla patata, croquetas, turrón, cocido, and paella. I bought three books in Spanish, two fans, castañuelas, a flamenco skirt, postcards, a Universidad de Salamanca shirt, an ever-growing pile of Spanish snacks, and much more. I´m going to miss my host mom, classmates, teachers, and this city, but I chose to focus of all the positive aspects of this trip (everything) and share my stories in hopes of inspiring other students to take their own journey into unfamiliar territory.