Final Days and a Formidable Farewell

Here we are again, cruising on a train through the green mountains of Galicia. It feels like just yesterday when this train was rolling the other direction. However, we have over 1000 pictures, a slightly larger Spanish vocabulary, and some bad tan lines to prove otherwise. We spent our final few days in La Coruna doing our favorite things – eating, exploring, and hanging out together as much as we could. As always, we have a few good/unfortunate stories to share!

I had one morning when I felt pretty heroic – as I was strolling to school, an old lady asked me to walk her across the street. The first words she said were, “you’re not of Spain,” but she said it in Spanish and I understood, so I’ll take that as a win for me. I guess I don’t hide it that well. Nonetheless, I hooked my arm under her hand and we walked, majestically, I’m sure, to the other side. She was talking to me, but I’m afraid the combination of our 1+ foot height difference plus my lack of Spanish ability made for a lot of nodding and smiling on my part. Though Vic has done that a few times now, it was pretty cute, and I smiled a little bit the rest of the way to school.

Speaking of school, the end of our classes meant we had to say goodbye to Eugenia, which was so much harder than one would have anticipated when we got here. Addy, Nicki, and I have had so much fun taking her class in the morning, even if most of it was because we had no idea what she was saying. We took our exam on Wednesday, and by how she met us for breakfast the next morning, I’m guessing none of us failed. That morning, Addy and I met at a photo shop downtown to get a picture from our adventure with her printed and framed so she couldn’t forget us, even if she tried. As we finished, Addy asked me if I had the final part of her gift, a little statue we’d found of her favorite animal. Yes, I had it, safe and sound, wrapped nicely and sitting on my desk in my apartment. It was 10:18. We were supposed to meet at 10:45. My apartment was a 25-minute uphill walk from where I was standing, and school was another 20 minutes from there. Addy and I just looked at each other for a second and both reached the same conclusion of what I had to do – run. I took my keys, dumped my backpack on Addy, and channeled my inner Forrest Gump as I began to run in my jean shorts through the city. I’d like to say I got there without taking any breaks or whining in my head about why my apartment had to be on a hill or had to have 84 stairs between the front door of the building and the front door of my piso, but I just can’t do that. However, I did sing a pretty special rendition of Kelly Clarkson’s, “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger,” between my Darth Vader-sounding breaths. I also decided that it would really be best if I exercised more. Ferran was pretty confused when I burst through the door, stayed for 2 seconds, and left again without any explanation, but he never brought it up. Eugenia was confused, too, when she showed up and I was dripping with sweat with only the explanation of, “I was running late.” I explained later though, and how touched she was that we remembered those things made it all worth it.

Another day, while Victoria was at work, she got stuck in the bathroom for a pretty substantial period of time. The door of the bathroom in her apartment is apparently a little sticky, and one day she swung it closed with a bit more force than usual in her urge to use the bathroom. When she tried to leave, the door was stuck. She tried to open it for a while, but even after putting her foot on the wall and pulling without pulling the doorknob off, she had to resort to yelling "ayudame" as loudly as she could. After about 20 minutes, her roommate finally heard her and started pushing from the other side, and eventually freed her. They had a moment of silence, appreciation, and sudden laughter afterward. At least Vic knows now that she did in fact have roommates the entire time.

On Wednesday after our final afternoon class, we all went to the store to buy some food for dinner and made our way to the spherical elevator so we could see Monte de San Pedro again before we left. However, it wasn’t until we got there that we found out it was closed for what looked like construction. So, instead of making the 40-minute walk to the other side of the large hill, we made our way to some nearby cliff-like rocks that Sarah and Bret had discovered on their go-karting adventure last week and ate there. It was so, so beautiful, and the best kind of change-of-plans!

Our beautiful Victoria, such a lovely picture with her water.

Our beautiful Addy, such a...lovely...picture with her...sandwich.

Other things this week:

This 90-year-old lady told us jokes, called Victoria ugly, and ran away.

Addy got her hair cut and now she looks like her sister and her mama :)

Dinner with Sophie's Parents

Vic and her Goodbye Cake with her bosses/bros

Friday night we had a final dinner with everyone at the first restaurant we all ate at together. It was still delicious, and very fun to think about how much we’d changed in just 5 weeks. Maria, our afternoon teacher joined us, and she even spoke English occasionally, which was fun to hear. After dinner we hung out for a little while at Soraida’s apartment, reminiscing of some of our times together. We have a special crew here, and I use special in every sense of the word.

Goodbye Dinner

On Saturday, the time had come to pack everything we had back into our suitcases that seemed to have shrunk over the last few weeks. When I looked back into my temporary room as I rolled out the door, the sadness finally hit me. The excitement to start a new adventure in Italy had prevented it from coming earlier, but now I was feeling home sick for both my Colorado home and my temporary Galician one. Though I didn’t love cleaning the bathroom, I will miss Alvaro’s animated hello’s and my slow discussions with Ferran about our common love for nerdy TV shows and video games. However, leaving just reminds me that I need to work hard to be able to come back again, and I’m willing to do just about anything to see those beaches another day!

After we all packed up, Addy, Vic, and I met at Soraida’s apartment, as she let us stay the night before our train in the morning. After the several flights of stairs up to her floor with our backpacks and suitcases, we’re now looking forward to how strong we’ll be after we climb the obscene number of stairs that lie before us in Italy. Especially Addy, because she’s found that if she leans backwards just a little too far, her duffle bag will have the same effect as a turtle shell and trap her on her back, and she’ll have to deal with Victoria and I pointing and laughing before we help her up, which she’s not sure her pride can handle. For the rest of the day, the three of us, Nicki, and Sarah took in as much of the beach and the ocean as we could, ate dinner (at 10:30, we’ve finally adjusted!) at one of our favorite restaurants, and sang along to Moana while eating chocolate and popcorn to finish out the night. Just like every other day here, it was wonderful. One of my favorite parts was when Addy was gently petting the cat which soon became annoyed by the love, so he reached his paw across and slapped her in the leg. Literally slapped. Then, he wanted to be pet again. And Addy can’t figure out why her Harry Potter Patronus (spirit animal) is a cat…just kidding!

This morning, we said our goodbyes to Soraida and Sarah, and climbed into a taxi that pulled us away as dramatically as it is in the movies. Nicki escorted us all the way to our train, where we contemplated how we could take her with us or get her to move to Colorado in the future. When we came to Spain, I was hoping to meet some nice new people, but I didn’t expect to meet someone whose generous heart is even more noticeable than her beauty and who would make our goofy times together even more fun. Nicki is the kind of person that this world is lucky to have, and we’ve been so fortunate to get to know her. Releasing our embrace of our beloved 4^th Musketeer was very tough, but we all have adventures left to conquer this summer. As Soraida said at our farewell dinner, so many things had to be just so for our group to find each other in a city across the world from our homes. We all got along as if we’d been friends for years, despite our differences in hobbies, career paths, and life experiences. I couldn’t have asked for a better group, and hope that our escapades will have us cross paths again in the future!

Adios, Ferran! See you in 10 hours, Barcelona, and see you in 10 days, Mom!

More pictures from the week:

Our Favorite Cafe, Tahona

We will miss our beloved Soraida.

Victoria,

Don't leave

your phone

on the table.

Our crazy crew!

Quote of the Week: “If you can't win, confuse them." -Soraida, giving us valuable life advice.

Addy and Lauren’s Favorite Spanish Phrase: “Doy en el clavo” --> Nailed It

Number of Restaurants We’re Worried Might Close Without Our Constant Business: At least 3.


P.S. It will be a little tricky to post next week, but I'll do my best! Talk to you soon!