One Week

Well, my time here is officially coming to an end. I fly home next Friday, a week from today... and I am super super excited. I am also really sad...

My host mom and I were sitting on the couch together lastnight watching our favorite game show when she asked what time I had to be at the airport. I said, "5 in the morning" and made a scrunchy face because it is so early. She said "te llevaremos..." meaning "we´ll take you." How sweet is that?!? The thing is, I am afraid for my host parents to take me because I know I will be even more of an emotional mess if I have to say goodbye to them at the airport rather than in the house the night before I leave. My host dad even looked at me the other day and asked me not to leave yet!! We´ve really become family to eachother this year, and to say goodbye is going to be so hard. A very wise professor told me just after I got here that I would cry when I left to come here, and cry again when it was time to go back... he was right! Back then when he said it, I missed home and everyone there so much that I didn´t think I would really let Barcelona become a new home to me. But I guess you can´t stop that from happening when you live somewhere for over 8 months! In any case, it is going to be hard to leave, especially since I don´t know the next time I´ll be able to come back and visit.

However, I am going home!!!!! I get to see my mom three days after her birthday and I´ll be there for Mother´s Day! I get to take my little sister out to breakfast and drop her off at school! I get to meet my older sister for her lunch break! I get to go to choir practice with my dad and talk him into stopping for ice cream on the way home! I get to watch my Manchester friends who are seniors graduate on the 18th! I get to spend hours eating junk food (which I´ve not had enough of here) and watching movies and talking and laughing and crying with my best friends who I´ve been away from for so long. Sure, I know things will be different and I am a little worried about reverse culture shock... but overall I´ve learned that I can adjust and I can handle change, no matter how much I hate it. So, for now I am just absorbing the bittersweet emotions running through me and taking advantage of the sunshine and beach and time with my host parents and friends here in Barcelona. I´ll worry some other time.