Las Despedidas

It seems fairly appropriate that what should have been my last day at school today was actually cancelled due to a general strike. Therefore, my last week consisted of only 3 days and I had my last day yesterday instead. It was so sad and surreal to think that I may never travel to Ermua again, I may never be in either of the schools again, and I may never see the students or teachers who I’ve grown to be so fond of over these last 8 months.

This week has been really nice and poignant, full of giving out presents, receiving some amazing and unexpected gifts, and saying goodbye. It still hasn’t hit me that I don’t have to return, and come Sunday night I will probably set my alarm for 6 o’clock without thinking.

As it’s our last week together my friends and I have been trying to pack a lot in and really make the most of our last few days in Bilbao. Our fun-filled week started on Sunday night with Rihanna’s concert at the Bilbao Exhibiton Centre. Her concert was amazing and it was actually quite suprising how good she is at singing live. However, I made the rookie mistake of enjoying the support act (two unknown dj’s) a bit too much, so by the time Rihanna was half way through her set I was really hot and dehydrated from all my energetic dancing. My friends and I had made sure that we got a really good spot near the front but this also meant that when I felt faint I was stuck in a sea of people, so the only thing I could do was sit on the ground (slightly embarrassing for myself and everyone around me to witness). Luckily, my friend dragged me out of the crowd and we got some water which made me feel a lot better, and we could enjoy the rest of the concert with lots of space at the back. 

Also last night we went to watch Kooza by Cirque du Soleil, which was absolutely incredible. The acrobats are ridiculously talented but it was very scary to watch as very few acts were actually attached to a safety harness during their performance, which gave me the feeling that I was about to witness someone’s imminent death. Luckily, it obviously never came to that but my heart was in my mouth throughout the whole performance, it was so exciting! On the other hand, watching all of the incredible gymnasts, contortionists, and athletes made me feel very inadequate about my own talents. Clearly, my body is just not up to scratch.