counting down the days

One more paper down and I'm that much closer to the end of my college career... My how scary life is becoming! It's almost time to grow up and the song from Peter Pan is stuck on repeat in my head: "I won't grow up..." I have the equivalent of one week of classes left, then one week of finals and a TON of vacation time! Is it really time to graduate? That can't be possible.. Just yesterday I was 16 playing volleyball in my high school gym, and today I'm just waiting for opportunity to come walking through my door.
I leave for Nice on Friday and plan on coming back nice and bronzed, Moroccan style. My friend who is going with me wants to spend all his time in Monte Carlo gambling his life away, but I plan on sticking to the beach, where I don't have to fear losing every penny (or centime) that I own in dreams of yachts and diamonds.

I got my info for Madrid today, too. I can't even begin to say how much I'm looking forward to Spain. Everyone I know who's been there has had nothing but good things to say. Some even say that their time there was life-altering. Who knows what kind of a changed person I'll be when I get back? But seriously though, they sent me the program schedule for the conference and it looks like it'll be extremely interesting. Everything I wanted to learn in college is going to come from this one weekend in Spain. I'm also excited that they found us a group hostel rate (15 euros a night!) and that I have a friend living in Madrid so once the retreat is over I can go stay with her and see what more the city has to offer. This is what life is all about: going new places, meeting new people, learning new things, working hard and playing even harder.