feeling like i left it right.

i wrote this entry on my last day at granadino in manizales. then i felt like it was too much. i still feel like it's too much. but my parents made me post it because they thought it was real nice.

so here, and apologies for sap.



today was my last day.
i have never been sadder, or happier.

it was lovely conclusive and teary excitement, it was feeling like i had done it right and it was all okay.

it was goodbye emails and messages from my students that i can't look at without welling up.

it was eduardo's angry happy sad face, and his inability to say anything except for "se me va".

it was ignacio running into the room after a muddy soccer game to share a despedida.

it was isa and silvia hanging off me for a few hours, on a mission to soak up a few last moments.

and it was me promising to visit and not to cry.

and i didn't until they all left. but then they did. and i cried.

it was, we'll see you tonight, right?

it was a hug from one of my idols maria mercedes the business manager and founder of the school saying the pleasure was all theirs.

this year and last have been so up and down, so good and so bad all at once. i am so sad and so happy.

some 2 years to remember huh.

" ms erin...why you do these things..they are so emotional and you make me cry its horrible.
and that gold bodysuit you remember me because of that? it was horrible jaja
thank you for teaching us about dendrites and concentration and involuntary and voluntary and blood cell types and mitochondria..you can come back when you want and visit us..loveyouuuu "

" hiii Erinn im gonna write in sapnish because i´m very bad at english(u know that). aunque hay veses me daba mucha ravia con por los bad grades de mis quizes y todo eso. me pareses una persona super especial, querida, linda y de todo. yo se que la amistad de nosotras no era la mejor de todas pero aprendi muchas cosas de ti!!! vivimos cosas muy cheveres juntas como el viaje a amazonas gorgona las meeting de SIEMBRA UN ARBOL SALVA UN MUNDO!! que porfin hisimos lo que queriamos y me siento super orgullosa de haberte tenido a ti como lider del proyecto y por ser la profesora de la elective que fue muyyy chevere. desde la electiva te empeze a querer mas jajajjaaj porque me di cuenta de la persona tan chevere que eres. ojala nunca me olvides asi no haya sido tu estudiante preferida y ejemplar. espero que vuelvas a manizales a sembrar los arboles!!!!!
te quiero mucho y nunca te voy a olvidarr!
gracias por el SAQUITO TAN LINDOO QUE ME DISTE!!!!
XOXO "

"Ms.Erin we all are gona miss you alto.. never forgive us .. and remember that you need to come and visit as.. and also you need to come in 2 years when we graduate jajajaj.....
xoxo "

" ms.erin im going to cry. I know that you are only my theacher and we are only your students but really we are going to miss you alot and i wiill never forget all the INCREDIBLE moments together (amazonas and gorgona and the caw disection jajajja). Tankyou for all the things you have teach me,(like the cpr that will be really usefull). I promise that we will continiou with the campain, you will see that in some years it will become famus jajajaj. you need yo come to owr graduation jajajaj . tankyou and i know that you will be succesfull. "

" just want you to know that i feel to grateful for this whole year of learning with you. I know that is hard to be a teacher and thats why i admire every one of you. Its very sad to know that you will leave us but i am totally sure that anywhere you go you will be sucessful. Although you think is a lie, you leave me a print that will never erase and such beautiful memories. Thank you for being so patient and funny with me and for enduring all of us. Good luck in bogota!..and please dont forget us.. "

"I just want you to remember that you have also been a significant part of our lifes or at least for mine. I know I was annoying all this time and I'm sorry for that, sorry for my behavior and for being kind of a pain in the_____ for this two years in many aspects hahahaha. Far from all the time we spend together you should know that your class was the only class (after music an art) that I enjoyed the most, because you seem to understand us or at least you tried, you also allowed us to be ourselves and you knew how to handle us.... So thank you for this two years"

" Ms. Erin;

Llevo dos años hablando en inglés en clase de biología, y quiero que el último recuerdo mio esté escrito en el idioma en que de verdad siento. Nunca he sido bueno para las despedidas, sobre todo cuando se que le estoy diciendo 'adiós' a alguien que ha contribuido tan activamente en mi vida. De todas formas vale la pena intentar, y la ocasión lo merece.

¿Cómo olvidar los dos años en los que aprendí sobre el curepo humano, la estructura y funciones de la célula, sobre plantas, protistas, animales, hongos y esponjas?

O, más importante aún, ¿Cómo, olvidar los dos años en que aprendí sobre honestidad, servicio, dedicación; sobre tolerancia, civísmo, liderazgo, compromiso, amistad, y entendimiento?

Estoy completamente seguro, de que habría podido aprender sobre 'Respiración Celular,' u otro tema relacionado a la biología, leyendo un articulo en alguna enciclopedia, o en internet. Lo que de verdad valoro, más que el conocimiento y el crecimiento académico que obtuve en los pasados dos años, es el conocimiento y el crecimiento moral y personal que gané durante ese periodo de tiempo. Sin duda alguna, habrán ocasiones en el futuro para aprender sobre la biología, pero un momento como el que pasó, donde pude madurar con la ayuda de personas como Erin Way, nunca volverá.

Con todo esto, puedo darme cuenta, sin miedo a equivocarme, que esto no es una despedida. Yo también llevo una marca dentro de mi, que siempre me va a recordar a aquella profesora que me enseñó a ser estudiante, y a ser persona.

Entonces, más que decir adiós, sólo me queda decir: ¡Gracias!

Gracias por todo, y mucha suerte"