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Well, it's my last post. I'm back in the United States of America. Time to give you a run down of my last few days.

I had two giant bags that were slightly embarrassing, but they actually were not that full. Plus, I only had my tiny book bag as a carry on. Sorry, I'm just rationalizto make my self better for over packing.

Anyway, after packing, I went to this bar called Chupitos which is Spanish for shots. So yes, it was a shot bar. It was pretty entertaining with all kinds of shots involving fire, fruits, and more.

Afterwards we went to Otto Zutz, the club basically next door to our homestay. We stayed until about 3:15. I finished packing and showered. My housemate and I then tried to stay awake in the kitchen until the cab came at 6:30. We were hoping to fall asleep on the plane.

My señor actually saw us off. Staying at his place was a great experience.

So I get to the airport and realize that I knew I was flying U.S. Airways, but I had no idea who I was flying with to Madrid. U.S. doesn't fly from Barcelona. I decided to talk to Lufthansa, a German airline that is a member of Star Alliance, which I think U.S. Airlines is a member of. She directed me to another terminal where I found Delta. I figured they could maybe help me out. Well, they directed me to the airport information desk that directed me to SpanAir. I got checked in and went to the gate with approximately 100 other IES kids.

I tried to stay awake on my trip from Barcelona to Madrid. My idea was that I would "save" up my tiredness for Madrid to Philadelphia. I kept nodding off and snapping back up the whole flight.

We get to Madrid and a bunch of us had no idea where we were going. The gate number wasn't printed on our tickets. For some dumb reason, we walked out of the exit, meaning we had to go back through security. Way to be, children.

We get to our gate and it is roped off. The man asked us if we were friends of the IES kids who were on the other side. I thought to myself, um, is that a security question? We said yes and they let us in and questioned us about our bags, etc.

I get to my seat and pass out. I wake up and we're on the ground. Yea! My master plan of sleeping the whole flight worked! And then we took off... Darnit.

I didn't sleep much, but I did watch Live Free or Die Hard (good movie), Next (bad movie. Don't get my started on Nicolas Cage...), and parts of Transformers. I also listened to some of the music channels. Some country and, of course, Umbrella for old time's sake.

We land in Philly and I officially switch over to English. I also go through customs. Everything went well, but took a little longer than I thought it would, so I had to jog to my gate. I get there but my ticket was a little different because it was printed by SpanAir. Confused, the lady just took the whole thing and I got on board. I had no one next to me, so I laid down across three chairs and passed out. That was nice. I also ate granola bars. Thanks Michelle. They gave me the energy that I needed.

I walk passed security and get tackled by Carrie and Christine (apparently when they first got there, they didn't know what airline I was taking so had to do a similar thing I did in BCN). It was great to see them. We get my luggage and drive home to San Jose from SF. I really wanted to go to Wendy's so we stop and I get the Baconator. Gosh, I love this country. Two burger patties, two or three slices of cheese, and 6 strips of bacon. Oh, delicious. We arrive home and Dad comes out the front door to do his version of tackling me. It was great to be home.

I went to bed around 1am and woke up around 9. I felt pretty good. I made eggs for breakfast. I then watched some football and went to Christine's basketball game. Afterwards, Carrie took me to Taco Bell. That was also delicious. For dinner, we had some steak, and that too was delicious. Oh, and milk with dinner. In Spain, when I told Spaniards we drink milk at dinner, they seriously are confounded and confused. Milk? To drink during dinner?

Church was great, too. Refreshing, and good to hear some English. Now I am here, at 7:41 PST.

I guess I don't really have some magical, cool way to wrap up my experience. I learned a lot. Experienced a lot. And all the typical things you would think that would happen. However, I think I skipped the emotional roller coaster as seen by this graph IES gave us.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts and comments. This was a lot of fun posting on this blog. I'd like to end with something epic, but I'm not really sure what to say. I guess people say or have said that this, or these times, will be the best time of my life. However, I think I walk away from Europe excited for life and to not settle for an average life, but to enjoy life. Pssh, at every stage. There's a lot to life, but part of it has to be making the most of one's time here on Earth. Goodness, that got a little sappy. Do I really want to end that way? Man, it's hard to end something like this.

I guess one last thing I have to say is I'm very grateful and thankful for all that I've been blessed with. Opportunities are meant to be seized. And while good and bad and okay things can happen, they all make up life.

Next quarter I plan on taking Spanish 3. I think that'd be a good idea. I also want to take an English grammar class because, as you've probably noticed here and there, my English skills are sub-par, and learning another language only magnifies one's deficiencies. I'll find time between my awesome accounting classes.

Merry Christmas everyone! Sorry if that isn't politically correct. I just got back from Spain and, well, heck, they ain't very politically correct there ("Are there any Jews in here?" That's my favorite classroom quote. I believe I posted that sometime in the past).

And have a happy new year.

~Chad