Is it really over?

If anything, I can now tell you that eight weeks is a very short amount of time. It feels like yesterday was the first day of class. Below is my 'thank you' speech.

Enjoy the cheesy string of words that may feel too sappy to read. This is a warning. :p

I am shy. I am a shy person. It takes me a while to become close friends with anyone and so you can imagine a hurricane of worries going through my head as I walked towards the classroom Did I seriously enroll in this class? Was this the right decision for me? What did I get myself into? Goodbye summer; hello studying. I am going to be such a loner...whyyyyyyy I shook my head and forced myself to think positively: I will make friends. I will sit next to the first person who smiles at me as I walk into class. I will be nice and friendly and cheerful. YOU CAN DO THIS. And so, like I promised myself, I walked into class, locked eyes with the person in the front row; she smiled and I sat next to her. This was my first friend. Fast forward to lunch time, another student struck up a conversation with me first and I took it as a sign to make another friend. Score, I was on a roll making friends by the minute. 

I couldn't begin to express this bittersweet feeling I feel tonight as I think about the past eight weeks. I was worried I was going to go crazy, sitting in a class Mon-Thurs 9am-3pm for EIGHT WEEKS with people I couldn't stand. But alhamdulilah, everything was wonderful. I have never (in my four years of college) made genuine friends so quickly and sincerely and for that I will never forget them. This group of people, my classmates, my friends, are kind and wonderful. I can never forget their happy smiles and warm hearts. 

Here is a sum up of my class: (names are abbreviated to first initial only and mostly grouped based on seating)

L: my partner in crime. She made me laugh every day and taught me how to make delicious smoothies. <3

M & B: Frenemies as B likes to call them. Class jokesters--always interesting and funny convos.

J & J: The wise guy and a wise girl. 

A & C: Lost and found. xD Complimentary personalities with great teamwork.

J & S: A couple of cool cats. <3

D: okay, the sweetest girl EVER. 

J, S, N: The three musketeers, the three amigos, the triplets. <3 

A: Tall guy, can't miss him. And if you do, he's the one laughing at everything and nothing. Contagious laugh.

M & M: Brilliant and talkative. 

M: The Canadian. Enough said. 

Overall I think everyone had their own unique personalities and I had a great time meeting you all. Thank you for one of the best experiences of my life and I hope to see you succeed in everything that you do. Tell me where you're headed so I can visit and have fun teaching English all around the world. ^-^

I especially want to give a shout out to the TEFL program coordinators and my teacher for guiding us through the weeks and preparing us to teach English in the real world. I enjoyed every learning and teaching opportunity I got to teach others something new. I wouldn't have chosen any other program. :D