After I got back from Salamanca, my last week in Valencia
passed in the blink of an eye.
We didn’t have Civ class Monday morning, so I just went to
Cine, where we reviewed some fror the final. Afterwards, I went to my very last
English class of the semester. I think that was when it really hit me that I
was leaving. That class had been one of the highlights of my semester. I’d had
a fantastic time there, gotten my first real taste of what it is I want to do
for a living, and it was over. The class
would be continuing and learning and discussing, and I would be somewhere else.
And that was tough. The class wasn’t much- quite simple really. We talked for a
little while about Freedom, and I made America jokes and we talked about the
differences in the freedoms allowed by our respective countries. And then Dr.
Pennock said that he had a grammar thing for the rest of class and didn’t need
us TAs, so we could go early. I would have stayed, but I had a final exam that I
hadn’t studied for like 2 hours later, so I said goodbye to Dr. Pennock, and
excused myself. It was a sad walk home.
But home I went and I studied and went over my notes, and
looked up art, and ate a very quick lunch, and went in to take Elena’s final.
It really wasn’t that bad. I’m sure I messed up several things, but in general,
I was pretty well prepared. My biggest problem was that in reviewing the art, I
neglected to even glance over Guernica, because I thought I knew that one like
the back of my hand. So of course, we got a whole short answer dedicated to it.
And I did know it enough to answer the question, but I should have looked over
it.
After the final was over, we had our last group meeting, got
information about departure and the like, and tehn I went back to my room and
studied for my lit exam the next day.
My lit exam was mercifully straightforward. Everyone was
really worried, but ti turns out the questions were straight from our study
guide, and We’d all gone over that. I even answered a bunch of questions
about it before the exam.
The only hiccup was when someone tried to hand in an exam in
pencil, which apparently was not OK, because then the teacher could change our
answers an we were all very confused. I think there isn’t a lot of trust at
this university, or maybe it was just this teacher, because seriously, why
would they change our answers? And before that he had stopped someone from
recording the lecture because we could edit it and post it online to make it
sound like he was saying something awful… or something. I dunno. But I wrote in
pen, so it was all hunky-dory.
Afterwards, I headed home and spent the afternoon, packing,
organizing things, throwing things out, buying things for my trip, and tearing
my hair out trying to study for the nebulous subject matter that was our Civ
exam. It was bad.
The next morning, we all sat at breakfast trying to memorize
the names and dates of random works of art, and the different styles of
cathedral. When we walked to class, we were all carrying papers and shouting
questions back and forth. When we were paying attention anyway, because Jess
also gave me the greatest tattoo idea ever on that walk (the elvish inscription on the
ring from LOTR in white ink, so it only shows up under certain conditions. Just
like the ring. If I were the tattoo getting type…)
But we got to the exam, and it wasn’t as bad as it could
have been. They didn’t give us the names of the works of art, so I know I
messed up a couple of those, but all in all I think it went well. It was
definitely our hardest exam, though.
Our cine exam was right afterwards, and I wound up writing
about the symbolism in Espiritu de la colmena, and the idea of global and local
cinema in Spain. Those were two separate essays.
Afterwards, the majority of the group went out to drink, and
I went home to pack. Because it kind of hit me that I was leaving very very
soon. And it was terrifying. I spent all afternnon trying to shove the
accumulated things of 4 months of living into a space that barely held the
things I brought with me, and after much frustration, decided that I would have
to send some of it home, because there’s just no way it was all going to fit.
And that is its own saga. More of which will come later. Suffice to say, I decided to send stuff home once I got to San Sebastián.
But after a while of packing, it was time to go have dinner
and meet with the group for the last time. We met in the lobby and then went up
to Elena’s classroom. We got t-shirts, and Elena handed out superlatives to
everyone. I got most likely to always speak Spanish. Which I took as a
compliment. Then we watched a video we had made of different clips of us
dancing, the link to which can be found here. I’m not in it a ton, but it’s a good little overview of the trip, and a
nice view of some places in Valencia.
Then we headed out to dinner and had paella and
conversation, and I shocked everybody by having mabe a quarter of a glass of
white wine. Which was so worth the looks on everyone’s faces. And then it was
over. And I said goodbye to everyone, because they were going out, and I headed
back to the dorm with Elena and Alexz, and we said goodbye, and it was sad. I
didn’t expect to be as sad as I was. I mean, I’ve had fun in Valencia, but the
big big a travel adventure was still ahead of me. I expected to just feel
excitement. But Valencia was home. I was sad to leave my clean, neat little
room, and my classsmates, and Elena and Alexz, and our conversations, and my
ice cream place, and the walk to class, and the río, and the bilingual street
signs. But Thursday morning, that’s exactly what I did.
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