Hello Finals Week.

Finals week is staring me in the face. It's Monday afternoon, and I just finished my first final in Vanguardia. It was weird saying goodbye to our professor, because it doesn't feel like it should be time to go already--I feel like there is so much more to learn. Tomorrow, I have my Phonetics exam. I also have Cinema tomorrow, where we will get our exam to take home and complete before class on Wednesday. I also have my Lit final on Wednesday. Tuesday night will not be very pleasant for me--having to study like crazy for lit and do my cinema final.

But then I will be done. I think I have to go to Phonetics on Thursday to get our grades back and so our professor can answer any questions, but that won't take too long.
Thursday and Friday will be filled with packing and saying goodbye to places...something I'm considering starting today.

Yesterday was probably my last day at the beach--a day of studying and soaking up some sun. I swam in the Mediterranean twice, and it was amazing. I also swam last Wednesday when I was at the beach with Allison. It's so peaceful--floating in the Mediterranean, the waves rushing under you, pulling you closer to shore. I kept thinking a verse from an ee cummings poem that a girl from last semester really liked. The verse is:

for whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea

It just makes sense to me. I'm going to miss the sea. It's such a wonderful, relaxing place. Today, Valencia decided to cry since we are leaving this week--in other words--it's raining buckets. Marli said it stormed last night, but I was fast asleep. We saw lightning last night before bed, and it was the first time we had seen lightning since arriving in Spain. Part of me is glad it's raining, it keeps me inside to study. I'm somewhat sickly right now--my allergies started acting up, which has led to sore throat and coughing and whatnot. Not too fun, and it turns out a lot of people in our group are feeling the same way. I hope to feel better by Friday..but we'll see. All for now--time to continue studying before lunch.