Mi año en España; A year Abroad.

For the first time ever, it hasn't actually been that long since my last post (keep in mind, we speak of this blog...I don't even want to think about the RYE Florida one.......). This is more of a "OHMYGOD.IONLYHAVEFOURWEEKSLEFTINMY.EXCHANGE.YEAR.WHEREHASTHETIMEGONEIHAVETOSTARTPACKINGANDSAYING~~GOODBYE~~SEEYOULATER" and all of that terrifying last month stuff.
Today is my graduation! In just four short hours I'll be walking with the other 22 people in my class to get my "diploma" and be an official graduate from Spanish Instituto! I know, I'm making it seem a bunch more exciting than it actually will be HOWEVER, I did manage to convince them to do the graduation caps like in all the American high schools. They obviously LOVED the idea, and so approximately a trillionjillion staples, 100 sheets of black construction paper, and a bunch of red stringy-yarn tassles later, yours truly created 23 American graduation caps. They rock, and I'll feel like I didn't miss as much of my senior year as I actually did, so everyone is happy.
Before I end my high school career and head straight into summer plans, we'll back it up a bit to May-ish and thoroughly discuss what exciting adventures happened upon me then.

May Fair (Sevillanas) which are the typical Spanish skirts and fans and flowers in the hair that Spain is steryotypically famous for. In their original location (..Sevilla...) the festivities are held in April, but they make their way across Spain, and happened to hit Torrevieja the second-ish week of May. Alex and Mary Kate stayed with me for 3-4 days and we spent the week between the beach during the day, and the festival at night!
Santiago de Compostela!! A six day trip up to the north-west of Spain with Alex, her host dad, and about 30 other...........ederly people. After a 13 hour bus ride with our fellow travellers, we both confirmed that working in a nursing home is not the job for us. (Kudos to those whom it may appeal to.) We spent a full day travelling around Villagarcía de Arosa and Tuy, which had it's own adventure hidden in there as well. While walking around Tuy they pointed out some moutains across a river and simply said "That's Portugal." Whatttt?! Yeah. So we sneakily about how much time they thought the bus would arrive to take us back to the hotel in, and did they think we had enough time for perhaps a quick trip to ANOTHER COUNTRY JUST ACROSS THE RIVER BEND. Turns out that if you put your mind (and your feet and your legs and your lung capacity) to the fullest, it is possible to run the two and a half-ish miles, through a parking lot the size of Texas, a playground full of questioning children and their parents, and forest that could rival the Forbidden one in Harry Potter any day, a construction zone, across a bridge, take six pictures with the "Portugal!", and back in fourty mintues.
We
Are
The
Champions.
It was crazy fun, and absolutely fourty minutes that I will never (nor will my lungs/legs ever let me) forget. The next two days were spent around Santiago de Compostela. It's the famous last stop on El Camino de Santiago, or the St. James Way, as well as the capital of the region of Galicia. It's almost an entirely different culture there from in the south east, and it was interesting to see how. The food was delish, the wine was delectable, and everything was SO GREEN. It's an extremely rainy climate up there, so to see bushes and trees and GRASS was a wierd experience that I hadn't thought about earlier in my trip (.....that much...).
Kayak in the Mediterranean!
Rode a motorcycle!
Rotary presentation in Cartagena.
Cry because Michelle left.
Beach!
Beach!
Beach!
Cry because Alex left.
Foam Party with some people from school.
Beach!

And there you have it! It's been pretty stupendous, minus the adios-ing of very excellent friends. The world is pretty small though, and it turns out that some of my not-so-distant cousins acually reside an hour-ish away from Michelle, and we just to happen to be visiting these cousins this summer HUZZAH FAMILY/EXHCANGE STUDENT REUNIONS! It's a a good life.
Before I say my own good-byes, I still have a few plans to make my last 26 days be up to their full potential. Paintballing here, mountain climbing there, goodbye parties everywhere. I won't even attempt to convince you that I honestly cannot believe that I only have 26 days left. It's absolute madness, but all good things come to a slow end then morph into the next good thing. That's how I'm planning on it working out anyway.

Until next time WHICH I PROMISE WILL BE BEFORE LANDING IN THE SUNSHINE STATE
-Nicole