Spain is over just as quickly as it started. Five weeks felt so long at the start of the trip. But sitting here at the end of the internship, on my way home, it feels as though it was only a few days long.
I look back over my time in Spain very fondly. The more I review my time there, the more I realize how much I needed the experience I received. I went into this trip to gain work experience, and to have something to offer to my residence the following year. I knew it would be fun, but I also wanted to have something to offer the freshman I would be an RA to this coming semester. My goal was to have an experience to share with them, and hopefully inspire them into going out and exploring the world. Little did I know that I would end up discovering so much about my self that I never knew before. I gained a lot of work experience, but I gained so much more in life experience. Throughout the trip I learned how I react to different situations. I would have never discovered certain things without this trip, like how much I apparently love Jamón and Fanta. On a more serious note, I never would have gained the confidence and awareness that I did if I hadn’t gone on this trip. I didn’t gain them all on my own. With out the help of my friends, host family, and of course Cassie and Mike, I never would have become the person I was at the end of the trip. I couldn’t thank any of them enough for what they did for me. They made this trip what it was, without them I would have been a kid in a city. That’s it. But every single one of them turned this into an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life. They all turned this into a story, a story that I will have so much pride in. Something I can tell my Freshman residents, and inspire them to go out in search of their own life changing experience.
The last day was a difficult one to get through. I never expected that saying goodbye was going to be so hard. I started to build a life in Spain. I had friends there, a routine, and a family. To have to leave that behind left me with an unnerving feeling. To know that I wouldn’t be going to a job I love anymore, or eating dinner with people I care about was sad. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and my life at home, but I have become accustomed to my life and I didn’t want to leave it.
I feel that I have gotten a lot from my job experience. I learned a lot about communication within a work place, and I also learned how important it is to be confident with what you do. More importantly I learned how to ask for help when it was time to receive help. I will hold those lessons with me for my future careers. I know that if I can get by working in a place where I don’t even speak the language, then I can make it anywhere. I am very proud with what I did there, and I would do it all the same way if I had a second chance.
My goal this trip was to gain experience and wisdom that I could pass onto others in a hope to inspire them; I wanted to inspire my freshman residents. As I have said, I feel that I gained so much for myself. I have grown mentally into someone I didn’t know I could be. I have so much to be thankful for, and so much I wish I could do over again. Not because I wish I did it differently, but because I would love to live through it one more time. If I could walk through the Sierra Nevada again, or maybe run my hand on the walls of the Alhambra one last time, then I would feel better about leaving. If I could have just one more mass in the Cathedral and hear the voices echo off the ceiling and fill the building with a cheerful hum, then maybe I wouldn’t be so upset about saying goodbye to it. Maybe if I could walk through the streets one more time and smell my way around until I found somewhere to eat, maybe I wouldn’t long for tapas as much as I will. If only I could stand on my balcony one more time and watch the people walk around the street, maybe I wouldn’t miss them as much. I know that no matter how many times I do those things I will still miss them so deeply. I will crave each of those experiences every time I think about Spain. Every time I take out my wallet I will be reminded of how I haggled for it in the store by the rio. Every time I write in my journal I will remember Caritas where it was made. I am very sad to have to say goodbye to Spain. The only thing getting me through it is knowing that I will one day come back. One day I will again walk through the streets, and find my way back to the Cathedral steps. I will sit down and watch the people like I did almost everyday. And that is getting me through my last day.
