"No es adios, es hasta luego!"

Now we move onto something we had all been anticipating since maybe the beginning of this whole trip. The Farewell Party.

After finishing my last class and exam it was time to head home and get all dressed up for the Farewell Party. Now I had brought dress pants and a blazer just in case I needed it during my study abroad but honestly I never needed it once. I didn't even use the blazer but I did rock the dress pants and shoes for my first time in Spain.

It was surreal hiking up to the albaicin for the last time knowing that this would be the big good bye. Some of the IES students had already left and some were leaving the next day so this was the big, bittersweet goodbye party we had all been both waiting for and dreading. We wanted to say our goodbyes and have a big goodbye party but we also realized this meant we would be saying goodbye. Some people we would never see again and we knew that but that gave us that much more motivation to make this night one to remember and we did just that. 

The Alhambra was something I had grown so accustomed to. I would sit on the rooftop patio at the IES center and look up at it, it became a part of my day to day routine. When it finally hits you that you wont be able to see that beautiful structure everyday it really hits you how amazing it is. You start to appreciate the little things more and more as your time in a place is coming to an end. 

This city, my God I can't say enough about this city. 

We couldn't have had a more perfect night for this event and the sun set was ideal. God really wanted me to have the perfect send off party and I really did. 

The Sierra Nevadas will never stop being beyond gorgeous to me. 

So we arrived at Plaza San Nikolaus (and I remember my first few weeks when I had trouble remembering this plazas name until someone called it "Santa Clause Plaza" because it translates to The plaza of Saint Nicholas) and slowly all the IES students started arriving dressed up, looking fresh for the party. So then began the photo shoots that went on the whole rest of the night. 

Just a quick break: I haven't posted a new blog entry in several months at this point but God knows how much I enjoy blogging and that I fully intend on finishing out my Spain blog as well as starting new blogs to talk about my summer internship and my senior year at Penn State. So for those who have followed the blog thank you so much for reading and for telling me how much you enjoy my entries. It really motivates me to know how many people are taking the time to sit down and read about my adventures. So that being said I'd like to thank everyone who was a part of helping put my blog over 1,000 views! Now let's get back to business....

This day held such an interesting mix of emotions. On one hand we were all thrilled we would get to get home and be with our families and friends again but on the other hand when we stood up on the wall looking out over this city we realized in just two short days we would be saying goodbye to this place that became home.

I remember this moment vividly, standing there with two of my new great friends Alex and Tyler looking out on the Alhambra and the city of Granada. We realized not only would we be saying goodbye to this place but also all of the people who had become such a big part of our lives. Our new friends from our program, our new friends from Spain and all over Europe, and our Spanish host families. We realized the sad reality that some of us may never see each other ever again but that encouraged us that much more to make this night as memorable as the best nights we had had in Spain up to that point. 

Here is another shot of me and some of my good buddies from Spain.

We had people from every size school, from states all over the country and we all came together in a way that made this experience indescribable. I was so fortunate to be with the people I was for my study abroad because everyone I met had there own unique personality to add to the group but all of us were passionate about making the most of this experience and having the best time of our lives, we did just that time and time again, trip after trip. 

Now these two girls became two of my great friends during study abroad. Sara and Audrey were two people I immediately clicked with and every time we went out for tapas or drinks together we could not stop laughing. I have to admit we also had some of the weirdest conversations I have ever had in my life but that made our bond that much stronger. Also these two girls both had long distance relationships with their boyfriends back in the states throughout the duration of the study abroad which just goes to show you, if you know it's right there is no distance that can come between you and that special person. I was very happy for them and glad to see people that didn't act like 4 months apart would be the end of the world. Hopefully I'll get a chance soon to run into these two for some tapas and ridiculous conversations. 

Me and these two guys (Alex and Tyler), wait sorry, These two guys and I (that was for Mom again) saw and did so much together. When you study abroad you spend enough time over there to adjust and think that things won't change then all of a sudden you are two days away from jumping on a plane, that is when things become very real. So again we all decided the best thing was to not get emotional, to say our goodbyes but not focus on the goodbyes, to focus on the moment. 

That is something I did so well in Spain, I did everything I could to live in the moment, to enjoy the now and make the best of the situation I was in at the time. I had no intention of letting that change during the Farewell Party.

My two friends Sara and Anna. Now each one of us had a completely distinct, unique personality but we got along wonderfully abroad. I really believe taking trips like this brings out the best in people and there was so much good to be seen in the people I studied abroad with. 

What I would give to jump through that photo and be standing in Plaza San Nikolaus again ready to walk down the mountain to Plaza Nueva and then head out to tapas with all my friends. 

Naturally on our last day there had to be a wedding group taking pictures after there ceremony. So while we were making a very special memory on that day, so were they. 

I still have the poster of the Alhambra in my room at college and it came with me out to Indy. That is something I plan to keep in my room for maybe the rest of my life, something right there on my wall to always remind me of these amazing adventures I had and to encourage me to start planning my new adventures in the future. 

Now I know I have written about our Spanish friend Dario many times but I gotta say again, he is the man. We still keep in touch today and he came out to say goodbye to all of us at the farewell party. 

Las Sierra Nevadas. The backdrop to my walk to class everyday. I remember when my parents came to visit and said that the mountains here reminded them of the mountains they lived near in Grenobel, France 30 years ago when they were both living/studying in Europe. I thought it was such an amazing thing to be able to share that with them and to have such a similar experience all that time later. I am sure that all the experiences they had motivated them to push me to do this and I couldn't be more thankful for that. All the support, love, and occasional monetary assistance they gave me made this experience more than anything I ever could have dreamed of. 

Now after a short time out at Plaza San Nikolaus we decided to head over to the party at this restaurant that Javier had rented out for us for the night. We were there to watch the sun set over the city while enjoying hor d'oeuvres and drinks. And as always Javier did not disappoint this place was absolutely unreal. 

It had three different levels and plenty of space to walk around and mingle with everybody. We did our best to focus on enjoying this night and hold back the flurry of emotions running through all of us. It was tough but this night was so much fun, teachers, students, administrators all together to celebrate the semester we had spent together.

Now when we went to take this picture above Antonio said, "OK Angry faces!" And we tried for about two seconds and as you can see I am already losing it and Antonio, in typical fashion, could not stop smiling even for an instant. Absolutely one of the happiest people I have ever met in my life and one of the most genuinely kind people I have met. So then we tried it again with smiling faces and not at all to my surprise...

Antonio was smiling even bigger. I know I have said this before but this is another great example, take a look at all the smiles in this picture. They are so genuine, full, and real. There is a big difference between just a smile on your face and when you are so overcome with joy and good feelings that you can't keep a smile from spreading ear to ear across your face. As you could have probably guessed these smiles are the latter. 

Here is a good portion of the Penn State crew out in Granada. It is really cool that we became great friends out in Spain and still keep in touch and hang out all the time back at PSU. Not only did we make new friends all over the country we made friends back at our own school, love these guys. 

Michael as always looking fly and bringing the classiness up a notch. 

Three man piggy back ride, totally normal thing for a couple of bros to do. 

I have said it before and I'll say it again, Javier our program director, has to be one of the most incredible people I have met in my life. He is so passionate about what he does and the students he takes care of, he does everything in his power to make each individual students experience the best one possible and he does an absolutely incredible job of achieving that goal. He is a man who I will use as a role model throughout my life, I want to find the thing in my life that I am so passionate about that I can't help but smile all day while doing it. Antonio has found his passion and works with all the intensity he has to continue to grow and develop that passion. THAT is what I want to do with my life and THAT is what I will make happen in my future. I will find that passion and I will pursue it with everything I have in me. I have to thank Javier for being such a big influence in my life in helping me realize how truly joyful a person can be when they work to do what they are most passionate about. 

We thought it was very appropriate for all the gingers on the program to get a picture together. Surprisingly enough there were 4 of us on the program, which means we quadrupled the red headed population in Granada during our time there. 

Considering the fact that I was the first ginger some Spanish people had seen in person in their lives, I can only imagine what would happen if all four of us were walking together on the streets of the city.

I'll always remember Michelle and her poems at the open mic night. She was one of those people that I thought I knew and then got a look at a whole different side of her during her spoken word poems. Really amazing person and she is one of so many people I wish I had had more time to hang out with. 

Ray rockin' the bow tie and suspenders, him and Mike were showing everybody up at this event but it's all good, they were just showing us that next level of classy that we can aspire to reach. Honestly, I don't even know how to tie a bow tie, props to you Ray.

The guy over on the left is Carson, the rapper of our program, I am happy to say he is doing very well and doing shows down at school in North Carolina. Also something very cool is that we saw his first live performance of one of his personal songs at the last open mic night, so when he blows up big I can say I saw his first performance of his own song in Spain, hopefully he will let me be part of his posse...

The beautiful sunset over the Alhambra and the city of Granada.

Hanging out on the third level enjoying all the snacks and drinks. The staff at this restaurant was incredible and it seemed like every two seconds we had a new platter in our face with some exotic food or drink.

Couldn't have been a more perfect day for this celebration. 

This is Alba, one of the IES staff, she helped me multiple times including when I was having trouble returning a plane ticket and with scheduling classes. She speaks several languages and I remember the one day she was speaking to me in English and I realized she had a British accent, that was a big epiphany for me that it would be more common for them to learn British English than American English. Just a fun little memory of one of those little things that happened over there. 

Jeff was another IES staff member and he organized all the events throughout the semester. Great guy and did something I might be very interested in, in the future. He participated in this study abroad then came to work for Javier in Granada. That is something I could definitely see myself doing in the future. 

As the night went on we had all kinds of different appetizers served to us and they were almost all delicious. We even had this one that looked like a mini turkey baster with jamon (ham) on it. So you were supposed to eat the meat then squirt the sauce into your mouth. It was very interesting and the jamon was great as always, at this point I was a little tired of jamon but I still enjoyed it. 

Tinto de verano, cerveza, and water were readily available and I took every opportunities to enjoy the Alhambra cerveza and tinto I had become so familiar with. 

My Arte y Arquitectura Islamico co-teacher. She assisted our main teacher with taking us on visits and teaching classes for our art and Islamic architecture class. She was very friendly and did a good job filling in for our main teacher. Our main teacher was so incredibly passionate about teaching us and giving us the most information she could in the class, she was truly amazing. I thought the two of them made a great team.

This is Luz (pronounced Luth), she was with my good friend Tyler during our time abroad and was a good friend of all of ours. She has family in both the US and Spain and because of that she speaks Spanish and English perfectly. I may be a little jealous of her abilities but I am working to get there. I am happy to say we still keep in touch and talk every once and again these days to see how things are going. One of many Spanish friends I still keep in touch with today. 

Now began a special time in the night. Some presentations by our classmates Ray and Michelle. Now Ray and Michelle both did spoken word poetry at one of our open mic nights so we were all anxious to hear the "poem" they had made up for this special night. They had been working on it all week, asking us for little bits and pieces of information about each other and we were told that several "memorable stories" would be brought up in this poem. Ray and Michelle took the stage and we all listened up ready to hear this epic poem summarizing our semester in Spain.

What followed was one of the most hilarious, clever, and reminiscent poems I have heard in my life. They brought up several hilarious stories from the program and Michelle told me before hand that I was in it so I was very curious to see where I would come up. Now we have been begging them to post this poem on Facebook since the program ended but we have yet to get it so I don't remember the line that lead into the simile but the rhyme was, ".... and Brian Drury, who was as quiet as a mouse". 

This line in the poem got a nice laugh from the crowd because everyone knows that, that line could not be further from the truth. I think it's pretty clear from these blog entries that I have lots I want to say and anybody who knows me knows I have no trouble saying it.

As the poem went on we would switch between laughing and getting that lump in our throats remembering all the good times and people we had met during this trip. It was hard knowing that this would be the last time in my life I would see any of these people but as you looked around the room everyone was still all smiles knowing that we had just done something few people ever get to do in their lives, for that we could not feel more blessed. 

As the poem closed out Ray finished things off with typical flare and they brought everything to a close by having us raise our glasses and shout out "salud" cheersing to Granada, IES, and each other. 

Much like popping the cork on the rough of IES Granada felt very final, this cheers really hit home. When we raised our glasses and said "Salud!" It really started to become reality that this was all ending. I feel like your brain starts to accept things like this in waves and small things hit you at first then big things like this happen. We realized that this event we had heard all semester about was coming to an end as well which meant our program was ending. So I can't think of a more appropriate way to end this event than to have Javier come up and give his final words. 

Javier always has been poetic with his words. He finds ways to eloquently describe even the simplest things and find the beauty in every day life and this speech was no exception. If you don't believe me take a look at the end of an email we received a few weeks after returning home from our study abroad. 

"Use the next few weeks to reflect on your experience—how you have grown by simultaneously riding on a wave of euphoria and coping with adversity; feeling proud of your accomplishments and feeling like an idiot the next day; wishing you were a true Spaniard, and not quite finding the American you used to be. And even though a good no pasa nada may not be too efficient in your stressful American lives, uttering such granadino words sparingly will be a powerful, intimate comfort tool.

I must end by saying that I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing these months with all and each one of you. May you all have wonderful lives as committed world citizens, and do never forget the days of wine and jasmine under the Alhambra hill."

This guy right here was one of a wordsmith. Even rereading those words now gives me chills, the person I left as and the person I returned as are two very different people. I feel that all the changes that occurred in Spain helped make me a stronger, better person. And that simple little phrase, "no pasa nada" (it's all good) means more to me now that it ever has.

Javier went on poetically describing this experience, telling us how much he enjoyed our group, and talking about the future.

And as usual whenever Javier spoke...

Everyone was captivated (I know Caitlin is looking away at the moment but she probably is just commenting on how awesome Javier's most recent statement was). 

Javier went on and then suddenly stopped and pulled out a paper bag and then reached his hand inside. 

From it he pulled out flower petals from the "jasmine hills of the alhambra". He started throwing them out in the crowd reminding us to never forget what we had done and how much we had all grown during our 4 months in Granada.

After Javier left the stage to a huge round of applause they started the slideshow of some of our pictures from the study abroad. 

The slideshow was a grouping of pictures from all different people in our program of all our different trips and experiences. As had happened many other times this night we found ourselves reminiscing over and over again at each new photo that showed up. 

Everybody was locked in trying to soak up every last moment of this presentation, trying to catch a glimpse of them self somewhere in this montage to take them back to one of the many wondrous memories they had made during this trip.  

I kept this picture because this was one of probably hundreds of accidental pictures I took with my broken camera throughout my trip. With a broken screen I could only barely tell if I had take a picture or not but that camera, although broken, got me some absolutely breathtaking pictures from my study abroad. So thankful I had a camera that worked (to some extent). Also just seeing the edge of that fountain reminds me of all the fountains I saw during my time in Spain. Looks like a crappy picture to some people but brings back plenty of memories for me. 

There we see a picture of my good buddy Jake looking out at the "End of the World" in Lagos, Portugal. 

As the slideshow came to an end none of us wanted to leave but the staff started turning off lights and we realized this Farewell Celebration had finally come to an end. Now is when the emotions really started coming out and people just started losing it. Some cried, some smiled, some just nodded but we all knew that this amazing thing was finally coming to an end. 

This is one of my favorite pictures from that night. It's a picture of me hugging my good friend Haedn. I looked over at her and she had tears running down her face which was something you did not see her doing often but I knew exactly why she was crying. This experience that had affected us in so many ways, good and bad, was ending and we weren't ready to let go. Some of us didn't want to leave at all but one way or another we would be stepping onto a plane in two days. That was a hard reality to face, it was hard to say goodbye but thankfully we have all been there for each other through it since we have been back in the states. I talk almost everyday with someone about Granada or my study abroad and I will never turn down an opportunity to reminisce with my friends about all the fun crazy things we did in that city and on those trips. 

Throughout the night we all kept saying, "No es adios, es hasta luego" meaning, "It's not good bye, it is see you later" we all wanted to remind each other that although it was hard to say good bye now it didn't mean we wouldn't see each other again. I said some more goodbyes then we made our way out of the restaurant. 

Dario, whenever I get back to Granada I am hitting you up and we are getting some jarras at Marisma. Dario and I talk from time to time and I look forward to the next chance I get to see him and all the friends I met through him in Granada. 

Like I said, these two were awesome so I thought it would only be appropriate to give them not just any hug but a "pick you both up off the ground at the same time hug". I think it we nailed it. 

This was my roommate out in Spain, Paul. How many times we would come into each others rooms after a crazy night and just talk about everything that had gone on. I got really lucky because my roommate luck in the past has not always been so great but I had a housemate who thought about things in a similar way and who shared a similar sense of humor. We had so many talks about the culture, the differences we noticed, things we missed from back home, and so much more. He was a great roommate and I hope me and him have a chance to hang out again sometime in the future. Wish you all the best dude, keep it real. 

There is a reason why the girls of Spain couldn't resist the guys of this program I mean come on now, it's like a male modeling catalog, just look at all those Zoolander poses. 

Yup you guessed it, another fountain. 

Laughter like this was not uncommon. Picture this every ten to fifteen seconds during that party.

So after we snapped a few more pictures we headed out to the street. Everyone was trying to decide where to go and what to do and finally my friends and I decided to hit up one of our staples, Taantra, a bar off of Calle Elvira. 

Since the party had ended early by Spanish standards when we got there it wasn't too packed but we stayed until it got nice and full. The great thing about this night was that since we all started the night together, many of those people I hadn't gotten many chances to go out with were out with me and my typical group. This made it all the better. 

We hung out and got the standard beer of Taantra, Van Daam, clearly a very Spanish beer (okay okay it's German). 

Then as the night progressed and the bar filled up so began the dance offs...

Carson and I had to take it easy, we didn't want to blow every Spanish person's mind with our sick US moves. Clearly it would be too much for them to handle. 

Maybe I loved the suspenders a little too much, sue me. 

Now as so many nights went in Granada when people asked where we wanted to go next the almost universal answer came once again as it had so many times before, "Camborio." So for the last time we hiked up to our favorite club on the hill looking out on the Alhambra and got ready to get down. The familiar sights and sounds filled the air. Laser lights, fog machines, a mixture of Spanish/American music cranking from the speakers, and people from all over the world jammed in like sardines dancing like crazy. 

As you can see Haedn was no longer sad once we got up to Camborio. 

As the night went on we laughed, we danced, we drank and just added another tally to the number of awesome nights we had at Camborio. As Alex always said, "It's my wheelhouse", every time we hiked up the mountain to get there we had a great time. I ran into a bunch of my Spanish friends there and we stayed out till all hours like we had so many times before. Then as the night wore on we knew it was time to call it and go get a shwarma like we had done probably a hundred times during our trip. 

This is usually what the streets looked like between 5-7 am when we would leave the clubs. Not many people out but just a clam sereneness in the air. We walked back and I don't really remember whether or not we got a shwarma but either way we went out that night with a bang. Our last night at Camborio was absolutely epic. 

Well I am proud to say that I finally got this entry done. It is December 29th 2011, only a few months after I got home from my trip but this is one of just a few more entries I need to get done to completely finish my blog from Spain. I need to talk about my last day and my trip home and possibly a few extra little things then this whole experience will be complete. 

That night was pure bliss with some truly amazing people, I climbed into bed that night knowing I had one more day and night in Granada before I would be leaving to head home so I knew that I had to make it just as memorable as the night and day I had just had. Although it was very hard to say goodbye to all these things that had become so familiar over the past couple of months, I really wanted to see my family and friends so I made sure to keep it all in perspective and focus on making the next day the best one possible.

So next up, my last day in Granada, to all of you that have kept up with my blog I'll be sure to get you the last few entries soon. In typical blog fashion I spent a few hours on this and am finishing it up at almost 2 in the morning, it feels so right. Thanks again for reading, and now this entry is DONE!