But Not For Long!!

My suitcases are packed (and within the weight limit, thank goodness), my backpack has anything I should need while traveling (hopefully), and I've got a six-pack in my carry-on. Of apple juice.

Funny story about that packing...I had no trouble fitting everything into my suitcases. I stuffed socks and underwear into shoes, mugs, and a water bottle. I somehow ended up with 6 gallon-sized ziploc bags in addition to the two compression plastic bags that I brought over, which meant that I fit a decent portion of clothing into those things and compressed the heck out of 'em. I even wrapped scarves around textbooks. It was awesome.

But then it came time to weigh those suckers. One was fine at 43 lbs, but the other was like, 58lbs. Limit is 50. Shoooooooot.

So I did the only thing I could do. I had to pack my second carry-on (I had been planning to take just my backpack on the plane). What is it filled with? Books. All books. Exclusively books. That's what I get for bringing a dictionary that has over 100,000 entries, buying 2 hardcover Harry Potter books in Spanish, and taking some of my textbooks home. Luckily, I have a buyer for the textbooks, or I would just leave them here. But it's allllll worth it. :)

Everything is packed, now I just have to wait another 9 hours. What's nine hours after 134 days?

I am QUITE ready to be going home. I'll miss Spain, I think, and if there's an opportunity to get back here someday on cheap airfare, I'll take it. I'll certainly miss my host family. They were really awesome and Consuelo is a realllllly good cook. I had to say goodbye to Pau, my 9-year-old "nephew" last night unexpectedly and I wasn't ready for it! It will be okay though. This is what Skype is for. For right now, I'm ready to leave.

It's probably slightly more accurate to say that what I'll miss about Spain are my classmates and friends. For me, they are Spain. Yeah, Denia is a cute town with nice people, two beaches, a castle, and warm bread whenever you want it. But without all these great Calvin students, Denia would be empty for me. Lonely. I know I've gone on about this before, but it's what I've enjoyed most about Spain. Coming back and seeing everything on my own wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable, nor would it mean the same to me.

Maybe it was something I did wrong over the course of the semester - enjoying Spain because of my classmates, not for itself. But I don't care. I would have rather had them here than get my fill of Spanish culture and cities and sights without them.

So anyway, we've got a looooooong day of travel. Tomorrow morning, at 2:30am, we are getting on a bus to Valencia to catch a flight to Madrid. We hang out in Madrid for like, 4 or 5 hours (that will be funnnn) before hopping a 9-hour flight to Chicago. Those who won't have people coming to pick them up then get into the vans from Calvin to head back to GR. With the time difference, it is about 24 hours of traveling. I have a feeling that this last leg will be the worst part, waiting-wise. ESPECIALLY if we spend ANY amount of time stuck in rush hour traffic. At least on a long flight, we know we're moving toward something. Sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic is one of the things that tests my patience the most. If we're lucky, we'll be able to make it through customs and baggage claim quickly to beat all that traffic. Here's hoping. :)

I'm so excited to see my family and friends. Not to mention my middle-schoolers (some of whom are only middle schoolers for a few more weeks, sad), my Conference Grounds co-workers, and everyone else in my life back in Michigan. Skype is a fantastic band-aid, but it just isn't the same as seeing your favorite people face-to-face.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone that prayed for me, encouraged me, and sent their love from across the ocean. Even to those of you that I haven't even met yet but are reading this blog. It really made a difference for me, I promise. :)