Sun. June 27th
I got to sleep in again today (Yay for 2 days in a row!). I had made plans with my friends to go the beach at Illetes, but then 2 of my friends decided to spend the day with their padres, which was fine. So it was just my friend Lentner and me at the beach. We took a bus and got there around 1:15 PM. It was pretty crowded since it was an insanely hot day. We found a place to sit and set up camp. Since there were only 2 of us, we decided that it would be safest if only one of us went swimming at a time while the other hung back and guarded all of our stuff and valuables. (We recently had 2 cases of pick pocketing wallets and 1 stolen phone in our Arcadia group, so everyone was being extra cautious and alert).
Our buddy system worked out very well and I was able to go swimming and dunk my head about 4 times throughout the day. I read my book, took a siesta, talked, and hung out. We decided to leave around 5:30 PM since we both had to get back and study for our final exam that was tomorrow.
After I got back and showered, I went on my computer for a bit and was able to Skype with my parents who just returned from a one-week cruise to Bermuda and ports in the U.S. It was nice seeing their faces/hearing their voices again and we compared tans and got caught up on stories from the past week. :) After that, I reviewed my notes and studied for my final exam in my Spanish language class. There wasn’t too much I could do to study and I feel that I’ve been immersed in the language for the past four weeks, so I’m sure I’ve retained most of it. My other project for the evening was writing a letter to my host parents, Loli and Jaime. I wrote them a letter first in English (to have for my own records) and then wrote it in Spanish. I thanked them for all that they’ve done for me, for being the best host parents that I could ever imagine, and gave them my contact information so we can keep in touch. I really hope to be able to visit Mallorca and visit them again sometime soon!
Mon. June 28th
Wow, my final Monday here. At 11 AM, I met at a bookstore called “La Biblioteca de Babel” which named after a story we had to read today by Jorge Luis Borges. The funny/confusing part is that “biblioteca” means library in Spanish, not a bookstore. We had our literature class there today and got to talk about the story in a relaxed atmosphere while surrounded by books. While we were there, my Lit professor told us that she had calculated our final grades. I was very excited to learn that I received a 9.05 on a scale of 10 which translates on the American scale to a solid A! Woo hoo! :D
We had class for 2 hours and then we were allowed to leave to continue studying for our last final in our language class. But first I had a little adventure of my own to complete. A couple of days ago, I asked Loli a series of random questions to attempt to figure out what types of flowers she likes because I wanted to buy her a bouquet as a thank you present. She told me she likes white flowers, especially Jasmine, and likes ones that smell good. I went to a flower shop behind my store and asked the woman if she had a bouquet of Jasmine flowers. She told me that Jasmine is actually a plant, but she showed me another beautiful white flower that she called “Star” in English, because it has 5 pointed petals. She also said they smell amazing when they fully blossom. I decided to buy a bouquet of those and she decorated it and tied it up to make it look very pretty. She also took a small clothespin and attached the letter I had written on the inside of the bouquet.
I returned home about 5 minutes later carrying the bouquet behind my back and then presented it to Loli. She was very surprised and told me how pretty they looked! I then showed her the note and she began to read it. I know that she’s very emotional and thought that she might tear up at the end of the letter. Well she started tearing up after reading the first paragraph, and it was a 2 page letter written in Spanish. I kept asking her if she was okay and she assured me she was. She told me that it was beautifully written and my grammar was very good too and she gave me a biiiig hug. She kept saying “gracias, gracias” and I thanked her again too, for everything. She told me she’d go find a tall vase so she could proudly display them.
After lunch, I continued to study for my final a little bit more. At 4:15 PM, I left my house and walked to my university, for the last time. The exam wasn’t too bad but there were certain vocab words that I had never seen before in my life. When I asked my professor if she could explain them to me, she said that I should know them because they were in our textbook (which I’m certain they weren’t). They were also some weird verbs that had very irregular conjugations that I didn’t quite remember. Other than that, the test wasn’t too bad. We also had to pay for our 2 textbooks today and they cost 40 E. (We were kind of hoping our professors had forgotten that we had never paid at the beginning of the month, but no such luck).
After our final exam, we headed downstairs to enjoy a reception/party with all the other students and our families too. Some parents couldn’t come because they were working, but there was still a big turnout. It was really fun to meet the padres of my friends and I kind of wished that we had had a similar party at the beginning of the program so we could have gotten to know them for a longer time. Alice planned the entire party and brought lots of yummy sandwiches, pastries, delicious chocolate cake, and champagne. We all enjoyed the food and mingled with the other students and their parents. Loli came with me and we had a lot of fun. She got to meet my two professors who said very nice things about me, and she also got to meet another madre who lives right on her street.
Around 8:30 PM we walked back home together. I Skyped and talked with people for a little bit and then we ate dinner around 9:45 PM (a little bit later than usual). Loli and I were pretty full from the appetizers we ate at the party, so she just made me 2 hamburger patties with a side of bread, which was quite yummy. After dinner I got all caught up on my blog writings (since I haven’t had a chance to write these past four days) and I started working on a couple of other projects I need to complete before I leave.
I’m kind of in shock/denial that I only have 2 full days left in Palma before I board a plane to start my long journey home. I know that saying goodbye to my extended family is going to be hard and saying goodbye to Loli and Jaime is going to be even more difficult. It’s funny how I’ve only known them for 4 weeks but it feels like they’ve been a part of my life for much longer than that. Yet on the other hand, I know my American family and friends are very much looking forward to my arrival.
Hopefully I’ll be able to update my blog 1 last time before I leave and if not, I’ll finish it when I return back home. Hasta luego to my Spanish friends, and see you soon to my American friends!
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