...because i knew you, i have been change for good.

Today has been rather emotional. If I was a crier, I would have probably cried after all three of my lessons, and then after each time a student (or students) gave me a card or small gift. I was trying to find Claire, the head of the English department, and all my year 8s stopped me and basically were begging me to stay and asking how they could keep me there (which Claire then suggested they steal my bags!). Definitely was getting teary-eyed and not sure what to say to those awesome students.

I had a lovely conversation with one of my year 8 students at the start of lunch, where I got the chance to tell her never to stop asking the questions she asks (let me tell you, she asks questions like crazy, but they're all great questions) and to continue doing what she's doing because she's going to go far. So that was really nice to get to talk one-on-one with one of my students before I leave.

My geography co-operating teacher/one of the assistant heads of the school gave me a bar of Swiss chocolate. Helen (my English co-operating teacher) gave me a hockey jersey from her hometown team in Nottingham! So I have acquired two jerseys in my time here... awesome!

I've been trying to tie up all my loose ends, which basically means handing out gifts to the people who helped me most, and tracking down those who wrote me letters of recommendation so that I can put them in my file. I almost want to hide until the very end of the day, until everyone's left, so that I don't have to say good-bye for real. I'm so excited to be going home, and so excited to see everyone, especially now that I realize I've been gone for going on 4 months! Time sure does fly. But I'm going to miss the heck out of this school and out of the staff and out of the students. The students keep saying 'Don't forget us!' and I really don't think I could.

This has been an awesome adventure all in all, even when I was super homesick and even when I was stressed out beyond belief. I can't believe it's all over at 3:19 today... that's 20 minutes from now. As soon as that bell rings, I'm done - ready to begin searching for jobs at home and getting my certificate and being an honest-to-goodness real teacher. Woah.