Countdown!

Hi everybody!

Sadly, we only have 3 more days in Valencia. We head to Madrid on Friday, where I will meet my mom, Meg, and Omi. I am very excited to see them, but not excited to leave this city! Luckily, we are coming back for a day and a half so they can see the city and meet my host family. After that, we are heading to Munich, Germany. We also are going to take a day trip to Austria. It will be fun to meet family that I have never met before and eat some good German food! After Germany, we head back to Madrid to catch our return flight and I will be back at home on the night of the 18th.

I am very excited about doing a little more traveling before I head back to the states. I am really nervous to return. Everyone says that reverse culture shock is much worse than the first rounds of culture shock. However, I didn't experience bad culture shock, so maybe my reverse culture shock won't be intense. I'll be busy this summer anyway. I am going to intern with the PR department at the KC Wizards, our soccer team. I am really looking forward to it because I will get to use my Spanish to speak with some of the players who are not fluent in English. 

I spent the past week trying to balance studying and enjoying my last week in Valencia. Tonight is a study night. :o) My final exams won't be too terribly difficult. Some of them are oral exams and others are written. The best part is after the exams our professors are going out to lunch with us. We have really all become good friends with our professors since most of them are around our age. 

We had to write a review on Valencia and our home stays today, and it made me realize just how lucky I have been. Valencia was a perfect city to live in and I love my host family. I not only improved my Spanish, but learned about many other cultures, traveled to amazing places, learned a lot about myself, and made life-long friends. This really has been a great experience and I can't wait to return to Valencia, Spain, and Europe in general!

Have a great week everyone!

Abrazos grandes y fuertes!