Three to go!

GREAT NEWS! My oral exam today went very, very well. So hopefully that will make up for the written this past Tuesday, which was less than perfect. Also, I turned in my term paper on Tuesday, and got it back today with a 9.5 (out of 10)!!! So things are looking up.
Next I have a Spanish final tomorrow morning, a poetry final on Tuesday, and a take-home final for lit due on Thursday, which I will turn in early so that I don't have to worry about it on my birthday. And then EVERYTHING WILL BE DONE! I can't wait.

Just moments ago, a student arrived at the door who is going to move in with the family next semester. She arrived - suitcase in hand - speaking very little Spanish and is currently in the living room bonding with the family. As much as she can. I can hear Paula asking "Entiendes?" every few minutes. But she does that to me too, so I guess I shouldn't judge. The suitcase debacle was kind of hilarious though, because everyone was like - um... do you think you're moving in now? Lindsey lives here now. I'll probably offer to grab coffee with her or something, and tell her about the family. Lucky thing, gets to be here all year. Hmph.

I thought that as the day got closer, I would be more and more excited to come home, but every day I am more convinced that I can never leave. I will be glad to be home, but now every time I ride the metro or eat a chorizo sandwich or see the moon rising over the castle-like building on my walk home from IES, I just ache thinking that it's one of the last times. Soon it really will be the last time. As much as I want Wednesday to come as fast as it can, each day I spend wishing my schoolwork would hurry up and be over I realize is a day I should be enjoying down to the last second. Also, Wednesday is my birthday, so it's tougher than ever to not want it to be here NOW. But no, I have far too much to do in Barcelona to be dreaming of a day even six days away. Today I went to the CCCB (Contemporary Cultural Center of Barcelona) with Stacey, which was one thing off my list, and this weekend I did four others: Mt. Tibidabo (but I'm going back, since we missed the funicular), Boadas (the oldest cocteleria in Barcelona), the Plaza Espanya magic fountain show, and the best Thai restaurant in Barcelona. I'll give you a brief summary of the rest: museums left on my art ticket, the gondola to Montjuic, the big modernisme hospital, go inside the statue of Columbus, a few more barri gotic landmarks I've missed, and four or five bars that have been recommended to me but I've never been to. I think it's manageable, but the four days after I'm done with classes may be full of self-guided walking tours (through places like the Jewish quarter and the Gracia neighborhood).

Things I wish I could've done this semester:
1. Go to Madrid, Prague, Morrocco, and France. But being gone half of the weekends of the semester was more than enough.
2. Somehow magically secure tickets to the Real Madrid/Barca game (on Saturday. I'll be watching it from La Tapilla Sixtina, on my block)
3. Figure out the public libraries
4. Make friends with some catalanes (I probably could've done more, but I thought I made a good effort)
5. Take a Catalan class - none of them fit with my schedule
6. Gone to the beach more when it was 85 out

There are probably more. But I'll leave my other remembrances of the semester for next week! I have much more time to blog but leaving will probably be the theme of the next 10 days.