Final Reception

Our last planed group activity was the final reception following our finals on Thursday. I had two finals on Thursday, Cine and then Fonetica. The Cine final was a joke, just four short essays comparing our readings to the movies we watched in class. The Fonetica final was easy as well. I still don’t quite get where you put all those stupid accents, but sprinkled a few accents throughout the dialogues. There was an oral part as well, where I had to read a dialogue to the professor. Overall she told me my pronunciation had improved greatly, but I said “tus vocales son muy largos (porque mi premir lengua es ingles), necesita hacerlos mas corto.

After my finals I did a little last minute tourist shopping in the tiendas by the Universidad. Then I met Jesus and the group to walk over the reception. The reception was held in a courtyard by the famous university of Salamanca building with the hidden frog. It was pretty chilly outside, so I pretty much froze my butt off the whole time. All of our professors came to the reception to bid their farewells. There was also an array of Spanish food and an open bar in the courtyard. The food was okay, nothing special just typical Spanish appetizers like tortilla, croquetas, quesos, gambas, vegetales fritos, pollo, pan, frutas and of course no display of Spanish food can be complete with out jamon. The best part was by far the open bar. I could tell quite a few other people were enjoying the drinks. Allison Sachs, who hardly drinks, had four glasses of wine and started hugging everyone in our group. Everyone took pictures with their professors and we took our last group picture as JMU Spring 2009 Salamanca.

I got a little teary-eyed walking toward Calle Toro with Jeanie. It was sad to leave such a beautiful place and all the crazy times we had shared throughout the semester. At the time though I was ready to go, most of my stuff had been packed and I was ready to see my family and be back in the U.S. I went in my favorite stores with Jeanie and Victoria, buying a few more things. I went to the office for the last time and worked out at sweaty gym for the last time.