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I'm back in the states now, but I figured I should offically close down the blog- end it. So for 1, I'm doing the 1 most memorable thing about Salamanca:

I'll never forget the first night I was in Salamanca. My family said they were going to the plaza, and I could either come with or stay home. So I went with. We walked down crowded streets, filled with people doing January rebaja (sale) shopping, for a good mile and a half or so before getting to the plaza- and when we got there, I was absolutely in awe. I literally gasped and my madre got a huge smile across her face, and said, "it's pretty, isn't it?" pretty doesn't even describe it. It was breath-taking. And now, it's funny, because it's not just the plaza anymore. Now its where memories were made. All the times we met under the clock. The times we gathered at night. The times we needed to escape the centro so we went for gelato/yogurt in the plaza. Every day that we passed through on the way to and from class. The place where we waited for the lights to come on, and the place we sat on our last night as they turned the lights off. I spent my first and my last night in that plaza.  (Oh God- this took me to a Mensaka place...story is a circle...ends how it began...I literally just cringed)

But it was really cool to end the same way it all began. (thanks Jeff for possibly your MOST genius idea!) It was the perfect ending to the perfect life experience. I don't have a single regret regarding my Salamanca experience (except for possibly considering Costa Rica for too long before finally deciding on Salamanca). There are things that were hard, and there were situations that were flat out uncomfortable- but I think that it all worked together to help me get the most out of the experience. I mean I have memories and new friendships that will last a lifetime- and thats pretty darn cool, and makes every little difficulty of the semester worth it :)

So that's that, for the Spain experience. Thanks for following me through this experience, I really hope you enjoyed it and got to learn a little bit about Spain and maybe about me!

As for my immediate future; I'll be sticking around NH until mid-June substitute teaching and spending time with family and friends. Then in the middle of June, I'll be heading down to Nicaragua where I'll be working with two different organizations to develop and implement business plans. Life moves pretty fast- and it's all one big adventure. I'm nervous for Nicaragua, but soooo excited. I think the one thing I learned from my whole study abroad experience is that we can't let fear stand in the way- we can't let it keep us from doing what we want to do. Living means forgetting that there's a tomorrow- it means we take each moment that we're given, knowing that there's no guarantee for another moment. There's a quote that I love which says, "yesterday's a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note. Today's the only cash we have- let's spend it, but spend it wisely".

I'm planning on blogging from Niceragua, so I will post the address on fb when I start it, and e-mail it out to those of you who don't have facebook.

With all the love in my heart,
May God bless you,

Rachel