Two Very Big Days

The past two days have been full of so many wonderful things.  First, I woke up Wednesday morning to a long-awaited email from the Junda de Andalucía that contained my teaching placement!  I learned that I will be working next year at CEIP Miguel de Cervantes in the BEAUTIFUL beach town of Zahara de los Atunes in the province of Cadíz.  It's a town of about 1,250 people, so it's very tiny, but it is absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous.  The beaches there are some of the best in Spain, so I have been told.  I'm thinking I might live in the nearby city of Barbate, which has a population of about 25,000 people.  But that's all very up in the air.  I'm just so excited to know where I'll be!!

My future home.  INSANE.

I'm all the way down there by Gibraltar on la Costa de la Luz.

I didn't have a ton of time to do research on Zahara, because I had to get ready for my college's Baccalaureate service.  We took our senior class picture in our caps and gowns and then processed into the outdoor ceremony.  It was super sunny and really hot, so we were all glad that the ceremony itself was pretty brief.  After that there was a lunch for the graduates and their families, and I spent the afternoon showing my brother around the campus.  

The next day brought two more very exciting things: graduation AND my 22nd birthday!  We had been nervous all week that rain would either make the outdoor ceremony a miserable experience or force us to move inside (boo) but luckily the birthday angels were smiling on me because the rain stopped in the early morning and the sun came out just as we started to process into the ceremony!  

Capped and gowned and ready to graduate!

When it was my turn to receive my diploma, I walked across the stage to greet the university president. As he was shaking my hand, he wished me happy birthday! I figured that my birthday would be completely lost in the ceremony for our class of 438 graduates, so I was floored when that happened!  It totally made the day for me.  When I got back to my seat, I noticed this adorable sticker on the tube containing my diploma that signaled to the president that I was the birthday girl.  Personal touches like this are just one of the many things I LOVE about going to a small school and will really miss.  

How cute is that?

The afternoon was filled with receptions, photo ops, and spending time with family and friends.  Saying goodbye to the friends that have been by my side for the past 4 years is tough, but I know they are all headed for great things and that we will keep in touch.  I've been telling everyone that they all need to come visit me in Spain.   I mean, seriously -- look at that beach.  

Even though my grad week was initially filled with mishaps, bad news, and stressful situations, it ended up being so fantastic.  It was only made better with the news of my placement!  It feels really right that I found out more about the next chapter of my life just as this one was coming to a close.  Having the peace of mind of knowing where I would be in the fall made graduating a little less bitter and a lot more sweet.  I'm so looking forward to my life in Spain, and the countdown to October 1st starts now!