Today marks the last day of coursework and practicum experience in Queretaro. First, we returned to the local university, where we were asked to speak to a room full of educational psychology students about our work. The group found us interesting, and it was a lively session. Next, for one last look at education in Mexico, we went to the most expensive private school in the city, a bilingual American-modeled school that was extremely impressive. After all of that we were so late to our final language class that technically it was over, but we decided to take our teachers to lunch and still give our final presentations (mine was basically a summary of my day 14 blog post). Our last finale (final finale?) was a meeting with our main contact with the state special education office and three of the principals of the special education schools, where we gave feedback and discussed both the experience as well as future collaborations. The meeting was very positive, and I am excited for future students who will get to work with USEBEQ.
Now, for my finally. After yesterday's failed attempt to see the Alameda, I had time to try again. I confidently took the bus, and spent an hour walking and taking photographs. It is a lovely park, with wonderful sounds and smells. As you can imagine, I took dozens, but I have chosen four to post below.
After my visit to the Alameda, I decided to take the bus back for the big USEBEQ meeting that was discussed above. I already knew which bus to take since I had taken it the day before. Easy peasy right? Well, apparently this time I wasn't as assertive about where I wanted the bus to stop, because the driver ignored me. No big deal, I'll jump off with the next person and backtrack right? Or at least, according to his list of places, he should be going where I want anyway. Well, the next person didn't get off for awhile, and his order of stops wasn't what I expected. So I ended up seeing a whole new part of the city, and was on the bus for 45 minutes instead of 5. And then when I finally did get back to the familiar part of town where I could get off the bus, I got lost walking back, but fortunately that was temporary. So I was a half hour late to the meeting. I was always safe, just frustrated that I had no way to contact anyone, and I knew that there were people worrying about me! But, at least it was an adventure!
So now what is left are two days of fun and relaxation in two new places. Which is nice, but it's also weird to think that tonight was probably our last night walking around the plazas, eating and shopping and enjoying Queretaro. I still am not quite sure how I feel about going home, but all of my finallies today made me sad. I know I can't stay here, that my life is back in Texas, but I love the lifestyle here. Of course, part of that may be because I don't have my full workload here, but I have just adapted well. But I suppose it doesn't matter, because Sunday is coming whether I want it or not. Until then, I have two more days to soak it up.
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