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| The Estepona road sign we walk by everyday... |
Today was our last day at Sotogrande International School. We fly out at just before sunrise on Wednesday (yes, very early morning). Needless to say, it was bittersweet. Most of us are carrying on as we have throughout our time here, teaching our classes and working with our students. I had four lessons today (all of my courses) and attended series of meetings with my cooperating teachers. Julia stayed late after school to feverishly correct her students’ exams that she will also use for her Impact Project post-assessment. Mary Ellen and Katie helped put together a Christmas pageant with their P2 students. Drew went on a field trip to the opposite coast of Spain with his Geography students; what a nice last day! All of us have remained quite busy to the very end, and I think it is safe to say that our final day at SIS has sneaked up us a bit. Seven weeks have never come off the calendar so quickly. Where did the time go?
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| The main office building at SIS. |
While the daily grind has left us with little time for us to look around and appreciate the fact that we will soon be leaving this place, I think it also says something about how we are approaching the end of our student-teaching experience. Personally, leaving Sotogrande is a bit more symbolic for me than my last placement in Chaska. Seven weeks ago, I was thinking about wrapping up my assessment for my Civics’ students, assembling my packing list for Spain, and making sure to see as many of my friends before I left as possible. I recognized at the time that my journey wasn’t even close to over, and with another seven weeks in the schools ahead of me, there was plenty left on my plate before I could feel at ease. Today on the other hand, everything seems a bit more conclusive. After today (and two days of seminar, of course!), student-teaching is done. My Impact Project is assembled, my portfolio has been uploaded to my website, and my MN teaching license application is pending. The gravity of the situations is a bit much for me, as I feel like my college career has come and gone without me every really noticing. My journey is complete. Or is it?
o teach abroad right away, because I’m looking for something more concrete, more dependable, and more “normal” in the States. Candice told me that I shouldn’t be afraid to explore my options, for one big reason. The plans you have – those fantastical ideas about what life will be like and where you will end up – rarely, if ever, come true. I have been ruminating on this idea for the past 24-hours, and I am starting to warm up to the notion of doing some crazy (like picking up and moving around domestically or internationally) in the next couple of years. What I took to heart about my conversation with Candice is that because we rarely know what will come of our decisions, we never know if they are good or bad until it is too late; this is sometimes good, and sometimes bad. But with regards to having another adventure to some degree, does not need to fall in with my plans to be a good thing. My “plans” are artificial because I am 22, and just starting my career. There is no telling what my happen in the next month, year, or decade.
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| One last picture of the beach outside of our apartment! |
So why not experiment and have some fun? If the important people in your life are supportive and willing to experience the adventure with you, all the more reason to just make the impractical a reality. But as a teacher, this has opened my eyes a bit to the possibilities that exist for my next journey. So while I will be on a plane for more than 14 hours tomorrow, I won’t be thinking as much about how this last day may have marked the end of one journey, but that it also marked the start of another adventure!
“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”
~Don Williams, Jr.
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