Surprise

I’m not going to lie and tell you that my European birthday was a delightful enchantment of a day. It was lonely. Nothing uniquely horrible happened, but I was just missing all of you so much. Thankfully though, I woke up the next day ready to start a new week and put it behind me. But as I was on my way to teach my second-hour class, one of my students met me. He said that no one had showed up for class – which I believed because that does happen every now and then (Spain is different). But I didn’t want to waste the hour, so I told him that we could still have a class with just the two of us. We proceeded into the dark classroom and I was startled when I was met with a loud “Feliz Cumpleaños!” and an avalanche of balloons from my hiding students. They had decided that we were not having class that day, and had planned a party for me instead. I conceded without an argument. :) I was totally surprised and it made me feel so much better. They didn’t even know that I’d always secretly hoped for a surprise party.

I love my students and I love teaching (and I was saying that before the surprise party!). I continue to be thankful for the opportunity to gain experience in the classroom, and I’m excited that this experience is giving me a good context for some the things I’ll be learning in graduate school next fall.